Pup and Fawn: The Quartet
by MSAllySomereva
Summary: We've all read about Harry's story, but what if Sirius' daughter went to school with him. Meet Ally Black, watch out Dumbledore, Weasleys (Ron and Molly) and Hermione- you've just pissed off a Black! Ally's adventures with twists and turns to make even canon friendships look good Harry/OC, Sirius/OC, Daphne/Blaise Please read and review! M for language and sexual situations later.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I am lowly 6th former, I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling owns the franchise and I am just playing with her characters, and own any OCs.

Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction so please be nice and read and review!

**Prologue- The hospital:**

In a seemingly deserted construction site sat a life that most people did not even know existed, a life that got harder for those involved in it. For the seemingly empty site held the most advanced medical hospital in all of the United Kingdom. A hospital that could cure all sorts of ailments known to all, one that had a permanent damage ward, a ward for those who were mentally unstable and a ward for those with intensive care issues- these were where the normalcy ended. For this hospital had the less common wards also; spell damage, magical burns and transfigured wards. This was no typical or normal hospital- this was St. Mungo's; a Wizarding hospital which was far superior to its Muggle equivalents.

Inside one of the wards a young girl was keeping vigil over a private room with three individuals, two women, both dark haired with aristocratic features and a man with blond hair. None were over 50, which was interesting given the fact that the young girl was watching her mother, grandmother and grandfather slipping further into their comas. Tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear as it fell out of her messy ponytail she looked at the monitors that were measuring the level of coma that the patients were in. The ten almost eleven year-old girl sighed as she read the results, she should not know what the readings meant, but she had learnt to do it from two years of age, she was now an expert. A healer popped her head in to check on the young girl, she had recently qualified so was just 19, the two knew each other well quite evidently as the older girl came over and sat next to the younger as she kept vigil over the patients.

The older woman finally spoke, "She would want you to go, you know."

The redhead looked at the healer before speaking, "I know, Mel but she's my mother and they're family, I can't leave to go to school when I am struggling to pay the bills as it is."

The blonde woman turned to meet her cousin's emerald green with her own, something they had both inherited from their grandfather.

"Ally, I love you and so does your mother, but for what it is worth they're my family too, I'll take care of them. You deserve the chance that I got, that your mother got, and that your father got, that your grandfather and grandmother got," Melody McKinnon looked at the younger girl beseechingly, she could see that the stubbornness was being replaced by vulnerability.

"What if something happens Mel, what happens then? Can you really take care of them for the next 7 years on your own? Besides it isn't your responsibility, it's mine," Alexandra looked at the older girl.

"You took care of them for the last eight years, it's my turn, besides as the oldest in the family not in a coma it should have been mine, but you did it so that I could go to Hogwarts. You're my baby cousin, it's time you got to have a bit of fun, don't worry about it. Besides, no one knows what your tattoo means it is one of a kind, they will not know, and as for your last name most people will not even realise and you can deal with it, you always have in the past."

Ally sighed, she knew that she should go and that her cousin would not take "no" for an answer, "Okay, fine, I'll send a response, can I borrow Persephone," referring to her cousin's brown owl.

"Of course, kiddo," whistling softly Melody called her owl to her. Persephone willingly took the missive to Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts.

As they watched the owl fly off into the distance Alex thought about what was going to happen next and she couldn't help but feel dread bubble in the pit of her stomach as she saw the brown dot that was Persephone disappear. Her cousin wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her red hair.

"He can't use it on you, you're too good, Jenna taught you well," Mel offered her cousin as she talked about Ally's godmother, Jenna Potter, a woman that was the first female Unspeakable in history who had died 5 years ago to a killing curse.

"I know Jenna taught me well, but you know what Croaker wants from me," Ally responded. "Algie knows what he wants and he knows that I'm going to do it, and take him up on his offer. That's why he's being such a smug bastard," this was the first time that Ally had mentioned it to her cousin, causing the older girl to stare at the ten year-old in shock.

"I didn't think that you would take it up," she commented neutrally.

"Well, I feel like I owe it to Jenna, it's her legacy and I can't see myself being a Healer for a profession, I may know more than you will for quite some time about it but it's too sad for me to want to do it for a career."

"What about Aunt Charlie, Great-aunt Elizabeth and Great-uncle Alistair," Melody asked gesturing to the three people that were lying comatose on the beds.

"Do you know what the cure is for what they have," Ally asked her cousin, she may be the younger of the two but was by far the more intelligent and experienced healer, so she was checking to see if her cousin could find the cure before she told her what it was.

Mel pondered it for a moment before shaking her head in the negative.

"Placenta," Ally remarked, seeing to confused look on her cousin's face she elaborated, "the potion that is needed to bring them out of this coma requires the placenta of someone who is blood related to the person in the coma, and it only works with siblings or children or grandchildren, and it takes four to five years after the birth to work. So essentially I have to have a baby and then give my placenta to the potions person, so after that they'll be okay. The coma is not damaging in anyway apart from them losing time from their lives."

"So I presume you've had a vision saying that before you graduate they'll be okay," Mel asked, her cousin had seer blood and could see what would happen up to a certain point, she also had the powers of fate, meaning that she was the most powerful magical being ever.

Alex merely smiled enigmatically in response, not saying anything before kissing her cousin on the cheek and floating out of the hospital room.


	2. Year 1- The Leaky Cauldron

Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

A/N: I was amazed by the number of reads I had in just 24 hours, I would really appreciate any feedback! I am in the process of having exams so the next update may be slower.

**Chapter 1- The Leaky Cauldron**

Wednesday 31st July was a sunny day in London and it was a special day in the Wizarding World, it was their saviour's birthday. It was 1991 so there was hysteria in the air; it was Harry Potter's 11th birthday, the day when he re-joined the Wizarding world after nearly ten years.

Ally was sitting in the Leaky Cauldron, the pub that doubled as the gateway to the wizarding shopping district, Diagon Alley; she had already seen her friends Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones with their families, walking in to shop for Hogwarts. She had merely waved and greeted Neville's grandmother, an austere woman named Augusta Longbottom and Susan's friendly and fair aunt, Amelia Bones (who happened to be her mother's cousin) who was also the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. They had left her alone after many assurances that she was going to be okay and not go anywhere near Knockturn Alley.

Ally looked around and smiled internally as saw Hagrid's substantial body amble into the pub with a small and impossibly thin boy with a thatch of jet black hair and wiry glasses and recognised him as Harry Potter. Unfortunately, it seemed as though everyone else had realised the same thing. Harry had been surrounded by a crowd of well-wishers whilst Ally had been lost in thought.

* * *

><p>Harry Potter was having a good day; well he was until Hagrid took him to the Leaky Cauldron, the pub itself wasn't the problem. Harry could see himself living here quite comfortably for a few days, in fact if he had the choice he would stay here rather than with the wretched Dursleys. As he shook Doris Crockford's hand for the tenth time, Harry found his eyes wondering about the pub as he looked for any way out of this situation, Hagrid for his part was drinking from a rather large vat of what looked to be mead, but was bubbling. Emerald met emerald as Harry's eyes found a young girl about his age with dark red hair who was looking back at him with a sympathetic expression on her face. Seeing some hope in the situation Harry looked at the girl pleadingly and she seemed to understand as she winked at him.<p>

Harry watched as the young girl suddenly stood up on a table nearer the middle of the pub and commanded the entire room's attention barring Hagrid who was still head deep in a bucket of ale, by whistling sharply.

"Hey, he's not some sort of zoo attraction, people, let him pass! You are all upstanding citizens but Harry Potter he may be, he is still a mere boy, leave him alone," the girl's presence apparently scared the crowd who immediately began moving away, a few brave individuals stood their ground until the redhead levelled them with a poisonous glare.

"Thanks," Harry muttered to the young girl, as he moved closer to her as all of the pub-goers were giving her a wide berth he noticed that her features were sharp and refined, everything about her screamed well-bred. Despite this apparent high class nature there was something approachable about this young woman.

Harry had always found it hard to make friends in Little Whinging, anyone that may have potentially wanted to be his friend was scared away by Dudley's gang. This young girl, however, seemed to be an exception, she seemed to exude an aura that attracted Harry towards her.

Ally moved forwards to meet Harry half way as she jumped off the table she had commandeered with ease just seconds earlier. For a girl who had just turned 11 that very day it was amazing how much power she held and how much power Harry held, it was a talent that Ally admitted had scared her when she found out that she could read power levels in an individual, but now she felt it a blessing as she read Harry Potter's.

"Hi, I'm Alexandra," Ally offered her left hand to the young black-haired boy, who gently grasped it.

It was obvious to Ally that he did not expect her to introduce herself and expect him to do the same. Harry had simply thought that everyone in the Wizarding World would know him and bombard him with questions, reaching out to Harry's supposed inner celebrity.

Harry looked into the smiling face in front of him before gently grasping the outstretched hand with his own, "Harry, Harry Potter. But something tells me that you already know that."

Ally smiled easily, she could tell that Harry was shocked by the fact that there were "normal" people in the Wizarding World also. Harry smiled back hesitantly, he was aware of his status a bit more now and he wondered whether this girl merely liked him for his popularity, but judging by her defence of him, he gathered that she was not a fan-girl.

"I suppose you are here with Hagrid then, Harry," Alex asked looking over at Hagrid who was still enjoying his mead with an expression of bliss on his rather hairy face.

"Yes, he rescued- I mean brought me here from my relatives home. I came to do my school shopping with him. Are you going to Hogwarts as well?" Harry found himself telling the young girl more than he had expected to divulge at this early stage of a tentative friendship.

Ally nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm here to do my shopping but I stopped for a drink before I started. If you want we can go together, all the shop owners know me here."

Harry nodded enthusiastically, he knew instinctively that Alex was going to be a good friend and he thought that it would be more useful to have someone his age show him around. Ally smiled as she saw the genuine happiness on Harry's face, before moving over and tapping Hagrid on the shoulder.

Harry watched amazed as Ally spoke to Hagrid in a whisper and causing him to nod and hand her something before diving back into his mead. Ally turned to Tom the barman and waved him over.

"Tom if anyone asks you didn't see me or Harry, got it," Ally handed him a bag of gold and pointed towards Hagrid, "and make sure our friend, Hagrid makes it home okay, thanks."

Then without another word Ally walked back over to Harry smiling. "Well, we're on our own for the day, let's make the most of it."

"Do you really know your way around the Alley," Harry asked before flinching expecting to be hit for asking a question like he had been at the Dursleys.

"Of course, and Harry, never be afraid of asking questions," Ally told him as she walked out of the pub and into the hot July sun.


	3. Year 1- Gringotts

**Disclaimer: I am not J. so unfortunately do not own Harry Potter but just the plot and the OCs.**

**A/N: I am going to be continuing this story, just at a slightly slower rate. I'm not sure whether people like it or not. So pleases review!**

**Chapter 2- Gringotts:**

They were standing next to some bins when they emerged from the Leaky Cauldron. Harry looked confusedly at his new found friend, who seeing his confused expression merely winked. Ally gently placed a hand on a specific brick that she had seemingly counted on the wall in front of them, Harry watched amazed as the redhead's hand glowed a brilliant golden and the bricks jumped as if imbued with life, splitting apart revealing a bustling hub of activity within.

"Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley," Ally giggled as she saw the boy's shell-shocked expression. Ally pulled on Harry's arm, gently tugging him into the Alley, the portal closing behind them.

Everyone seemed to recognise Harry, the trademark messy mop of jet-black hair and the wire framed glasses reminded the Wizarding population too much of James Potter, not to recognise Harry. The boy in question was completely oblivious to the stares he was receiving, had he recognised the looks he would not have been looking around the entire alley with a look of awe on his young face. However, Ally's presence told them it was better to keep their distance or risk losing a limb or worse.

Ally chuckled, "You know it's not going anywhere, right?"

Harry started, he blushed, he hadn't realised that he'd been caught staring, "I'm sorry."

Ally groaned before slapping him upside the head, "Dude, don't stress so much about these things, I'm not going to blow my top for such a stupid reason. I was the same when I first came here; you want about 6 to 8 more eyes to see everything. I promise that we'll do it all, we just have to go to Gringotts first."

Harry nodded, embarrassed, before asking a question, "What's Gringotts," Hagrid had not told him much about the Wizarding World so he was intrigued.

Ally smiled, "It is okay to ask questions, ask me as many as you want and I'll try to answer them. I'm not like your so-called family I won't hit you for being curious, it's a good thing. As for what Gringotts is, look over there."

Harry followed Ally's pointed finger to a white columned building with the words "Gringotts Bank" engraved at the top.

"It's a bank, run by goblins," Ally explained pointed surreptitiously to a funny-looking creature about 2 ½ feet tall. "Always be unfailingly kind to a goblin or you risk losing a lot."

Harry nodded his head; something told him that what Ally spoke of was a deadly serious matter. He dropped instinctively behind Ally as they headed into the building pausing to bow to the goblin at the entrance who looked shocked before bowing back

Ally made an immediate beeline for a goblin sitting alone scowling at every witch or wizard that dared even to go in his direction, but Ally was unfazed by this and walked over followed hesitantly by Harry, who was wary of the scary-looking goblin. Smiling at the goblin, Lily intoned in perfect Gobbledegook, "Good Morning, Goblin Ragnarok, may your gold flow and your profit's flourish." She quickly translated what she had just said to a shocked looking Harry.

At her words the newly identified Ragnarok looked up in astonishment before bowing lowly to Ally and replying, "May your endeavours earn you gold and your vaults' gain prosperity."

"We wish to see Master Ragnok, I understand that he's busy but just let him know that I am here to see him, I do have a meeting with him."

The goblin scowled, before stomping off in the general direction of the inner chambers of the bank, muttering about ego-centric humans. A few minutes later he returned, still scowling but beckoned them towards him and Harry followed Ally once again. As they entered this office the first thing that everyone noticed was the furnishings which were rich gold and red in colour, the goblin in this office had on a manager's crest and was very regal in looks.

He looked up when he heard their entrance and nodded at Ragnarok, indicating that he was dismissed, before bouncing up and out of his seat and rushing over to greet Ally by bowing which she replied to by curtsying and then kissing each other on both cheeks.

Ragnok spoke in English, despite knowing Ally's proficiency with the Goblin language showing his respect and friendship with her, thinking it rude to converse in a language that their companion, Harry did not know. "Good morrow, Ally it is good to see you once more my old friend."

"Indeed, it had been far too long, my friend, I hope that business has been profitable."

"Yes, I thank you for enquiring my young friend. But surely your business with me is not about Gringotts' progress in the stock markets."

"You assume correctly, my friend," Ally responded smiling slightly before beckoning to Harry to take a seat next to her opposite Ragnok's desk.

"Direct as always," Ragnok smirked before noticing Harry's uncomfortableness. "Your friend seems worried at my presence."

"Oh right, yes, how rude of me, Harry this is the Head Goblin, Lord Ragnok. Ragnok, this is my new friend, Harry Potter," Ally introduced concisely, Ragnok bowed in introduction which Harry copied.

"Originally, I was coming by myself to withdraw some money and talk about funding in the prison for prisoner number 131059 but I can do the second thing by owl post. Harry, here will need taking to his vault and some knowledge about his inheritance," Ally explained.

Ragnok looked at her shrewdly before reverting to Gobbledegook, which roughly translated to English, was "that boy is your mate, you know it and so do I".

Harry watched surprised as Ally blushed as red as her hair, before she grimaced at the proud look on the Head Goblin's swarthy face.

"Very well, you Mr Potter have to prove you are who they say you are," Ragnok began, clearing his throat before continuing rather pompously, "one drop of blood on the parchment should do."

Harry looked worriedly at Alex, wondering whether or not to listen to the goblin, he had no problems in trusting her, but he was still new to the Wizarding world and so was cautious when following strange instructions.

"It's fine, Harry, it's not going to be used for anything bad, it's to check you inheritance, it's helpful, I swear," Ally reassured the young boy, who nodded before pricking his finger.

Harry watched intrigued as the parchment seemed to soak in the one drop of blood that he allowed to fall from his finger. Suddenly words began to form on the parchment, shocking Harry, Ally seemed completely at ease as she looked at the parchment to see what it would reveal.

**Name: Harry James Potter**

**Father: James Charlus Potter**

**Mother: Lily Potter (Evans)**

**Families (Heir number): Potter (1), Peverell (2), Black (3), Gryffindor (2), Ravenclaw (3), Slytherin (3), Hufflepuff (5), Davis (7)**

**Inheritance:**

**Potter Family:**

**Vaults: 647, 22, 3**

**Monetary assets: 647 (500,000 Galleons yearly from main vault 3), 22 (20, 000 Galleons, 12 Sickles, 9 Knuts), 3 (2.4 billion Galleons, 100, 000 Sickles, 24 Knuts) **

**Stocks and Shares: **

**25% Slug & Jiggers Apothecary **

**24% Daily Prophet**

**5% Gringotts**

**25% Disney**

**Jewellery and others: Culminated worth 2.5 million Galleons**

**Abilities:**

**Parseltongue – 75% blocked**

**Multimagus- 100% blocked**

**Air Elemental- 98% blocked**

**Beast Speech- 90% blocked**

Harry stared at all of his assets in shock; turning to face Ally he was shocked to see her smiling.

Ally turned to face Ragnok, "Well, I believe that you stand corrected Lord Ragnok, he is richer and more powerful politically than you thought."

"How much is the conversion," Harry asked Ally who looked thoughtful.

"I believe that it's £1000 to each Galleon," Ally commented.

"You knew I was this rich," Harry asked startled.

"The Potter family is one of the oldest in the world, I believe that it's the third oldest after the Black and McKinnon families. You inherited a lot, but you can't really touch any of it until you are 17 or married, whichever comes first. You can only use vault 647 given the fact that that is your trust vault, every pureblood family has one," Ally explained.

"But Alex, what about you, don't you need any money?" Harry asked, he didn't want his new friend to feel badly due to his wealth.

"You truly are your mother's son," Ragnok smiled, "she too was unerringly kind and always thought of others."

"Harry, please call me Ally if you wish, all my friends do. But Ragnok is right I do have my own wealth with the same stipulations as yours," Ally explained, she knew that Harry only wanted to be known as himself not for his wealth. He had a lot to learn about politics and what being rich could help one attain, something that she would have to teach him.

"I think I would prefer to call you Alex, can I?" Harry asked shyly, he found himself becoming more and more comfortable around her.

Ally scowled for a moment before coming to a decision, as she scrunched up her face her hair changed to black before turning back to red, shocking Harry, "If you wish to call me Alex you may, but you are going to be the only one, okay?"

Harry nodded mutely at her, still staring at her hair, "Y-your hair, it changed colour, how did it do that?"

Ally nodded in sudden understanding, "Oh right, sorry, forgot you wouldn't know about that, it probably scared you, huh? I'm what they call a metamorphmagus, basically I can change any aspect of my body at will, it's an inherited gift, I'm a full metamorphmagus it's a rare gift but some people have part of those abilities. See look you have some according to your chart."

"They are blocked, Ally," Ragnok told her, looking at Ally with worry.

"Dumbledore," Ally muttered angrily, as she realised who it was that could have cast those blocks, according to these talents Harry had at least 80% of his core power blocked. That would mean that only someone incredibly powerful could have cast these blocks. Suffice to say Ally was beyond annoyed, her hair was flaming red and steam was coming out of her ears. Albus Dumbledore who was sitting in his office felt chills down his spine, but he did not know why.

Eventually Ally calmed down to explain the problem to Harry, who was horrified when he finally understood what the Headmaster of Hogwarts had done to him.

"Ragnok what would be the dangers of releasing his core power now," Ally asked the old goblin.

"A power surge that could potentially kill us all, however, you are a powerful individual Alexandra, over the next few years you could slowly release his power and that would be sufficient not to kill everybody," Ragnok explained.

Ally nodded her understanding, "Is there anything else that we should know, like contracts or anything?"

"There is one contract, a marriage one that has been created by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot between the youngest child of the Weasley Family and the Potter family," Ragnok muttered, he knew that this would not please Ally, she was notorious to hate Molly Prewett who was the current Weasley matriarch.

"It's illegal is it not, it requires the signature of the Head of both families, let me see the contract," Ragnok was surprised by Ally's response; she had kept her cool, whilst her hand was resting on Harry's thigh. Harry had tensed because he understood what a marriage contract was and he did not want to be bound by one.

Ragnok brought out the contract and held it out to Ally to peruse. Ally grimaced as she read the terms before suddenly giggling.

"This is totally illegal and had I not looked properly it would have all seemed perfectly fine and legal, look Dumbledore has signed as Harry's magical guardian, but that means that he would know about any existing contracts, right? Well, Arthur Weasley's signature is nowhere on this contract and he is the head of his family, so that makes it semi-illegal, then we look at the fact that Harry already has a preceding marriage contract to this one, rendering the one to a Ginevra Molly Weasley moot point."

Ragnok looked up at Harry who had regained some of his colour whilst Ally talked about how he would not have to marry a Weasley but then paled again as he heard of the preceding contract. Ally too had noticed this so hastened to reassure him.

"It's not too bad Harry; the preceding contract states that the oldest Potter son must marry the daughter of a McKinnon by the end of the 20th century and on their 15th birthdays."

Harry suddenly smiled remembering something that Hagrid had said when explaining his parents' deaths to him, "But all the McKinnon's were killed by Voldemort, right, so the contract is no longer valid?"

He sounded so hopeful that Ally felt sorry that she had to burst his bubble, "Sorry, but there are still two unmarried McKinnon daughters, and you have no choice but to fulfil the contract or else you'll lose your magic. You will be the only Potter that will be 15 before the turn of the century."

"Who are the two eligible daughters," Harry finally asked, he knew that if there was any loophole then Ally would have found it, so now resigned himself to his fate.

"Well, actually there is only one eligible McKinnon daughter given the specifics of the contract, it states that they must both wed on their 15th birthdays, correct? Well, the oldest McKinnon daughter, Melody McKinnon is currently 19, so that makes her ineligible.

The other is 11, she will be the daughter you have to marry, don't worry, you have 4 years to get to know her at Hogwarts," Ragnok explained.

Ally meanwhile was doing her best to pretend to not realise where Ragnok was going with this, she had known for a few months that this was what the contract said, but she had never really thought about it.

"What's her name, Lord Ragnok," Harry asked finally.

"Her name is Alexandra, or as I call her, Ally," Ragnok pointed at Ally who waved her right hand at Harry.

There was silence. Then, "well, I guess that that's not too bad, you're pretty and I like you. But do you want to get married to me?" Harry asked of Ally.

Ally blushed at the compliment, "Thanks. I think we can grow to care for each other and who knows maybe we'll fall in love. I'm will to give it a go, we have 4 years to get used to the idea."

Harry nodded and once again the Head Goblin of Gringotts was amazed by the maturity of the two 11 year olds in front of him, he was expecting hysterics instead he got calm and collected. He had a feeling that this was the start of something incredibly special for the duo in front of him.

**Next up: The trip in Diagon Alley**

**Please read and review! :)**


	4. Year 1- Diagon Alley

**Disclaimer: I am not J K Rowling, I only own the plotline and the OCs**

**A/N: Sorry to those who may have read my wrong chapter posting earlier, this is the right version. Sorry :)**

**Thank you to all those that have followed this story. Thanks to Noxy the Proxy and Grazielly, for reviewing. Please keep the reviews coming.**

**I need an opinion so my first poll is going to be should Ginny be good or evil, please let me know.**

**Chapter 3- Diagon Alley:**

Ally and Harry had gotten used to the idea of one day getting married before leaving the safety of Gringotts, a thought that once Harry had articulated sent Ally into gales of laughter. It had taken Ally a while to explain to Harry exactly why it was so funny, to most of the Wizarding world, Gringotts was not safe, mainly because purebloods and many half-bloods treated goblins terribly due to their semi-human nature and muggle-borns were terrified of goblins.

It was time for Ally to take Harry shopping for Hogwarts; both had withdrawn sufficient funds from their trust funds at Ally's behest.

"Let's see the list then, Potter," Ally told her friend as she held out her hand for his list, groaning at the number of things that they were expected to bring, things that they seldom would even use at Hogwarts, like the pointy hat.

"So, what shall we start with," Harry was more than sensible enough to defer the planning of their trip to Ally, she was the seasoned veteran when it came to shopping in the Magical district.

"The uniform is probably the best place to start," Ally decided, before turning to look at Harry contemplatively, "you really can't wear these clothes around Hogwarts," Ally said in reference to Harry's hand-me-downs from Dudley.

Harry nodded but his reason for wanting to get rid of these clothes was because he hated them, Ally wanted to replace them because she knew that Harry Potter dressed this badly would cause a political backlash from families like the Malfoys which they could not afford.

"I suggest we bypass Madam Malkin's, not because I have anything against her, but more so for the reason that all Hogwarts' students go there and it is not the best place for what we need. We are going to Twilfitt and Tatting's. They are more upper-class than Malkin's and therefore more expensive but we can afford it and it is worth it."

So poor Harry found himself dragged into the most upmarket clothes shop he had ever been to, it reminded him a bit of the designer clothing stores Dudley insisted upon getting his stuff from. The prices were outrageous but the clothes were of the best quality. Harry soon learnt why Ally had brought him here; she seemed to know the owner very well and bartered down prices often by over 50%. When they left two hours later, it was almost noon and Harry and Ally both had all of their Hogwarts' robes, their hats and protective gloves for things like Herbology and Potions as well as whole new wardrobes which were fashionable yet sturdy and comfortable.

"Please tell me that shopping with you isn't always so tiring," Harry groaned as he eased himself into a booth in Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour for an ice-cream to sustain them until dinner.

Ally laughed, she knew that she was a bit of a terror earlier in Twilfitt and Tatting's but that was because she had to act like the perfect pureblood, she had to pretend to be a perfect chatelaine of the future, so that Twilfitt gave them good deals. Melody was more of the shopping nightmare; Ally on the other hand knew how to work businesses and therefore came up with the better deals and was an easier shopper than her older cousin.

"It isn't I promise, besides the rest of the day is going to be much more relaxed. Hi Florean," Ally trailed off as she spotted the proprietor of the ice-cream parlour walk towards their booth with a friendly smile.

"Hello, Miss Ally, how are you?"

"Not bad, Florean, how's the missus," Ally responded with an easy grin, she had a good rapport with most of the shop-owners, she had been to the Alley on her own for so many years most of them saw her as a daughter, niece or a grand-daughter by this point.

"Blooming, she's pregnant," Florean's face had spread into a grin; he was evidently overjoyed by their impending parenthood.

"Well, give her my best," Ally smiled, she knew that she would have to get something for Sarah Fortescue as a congratulations gift, but that could wait.

"So what can I get you and your friend," Florean was a discreet man, he knew who Ally's friend was like the rest of the Alley, but he was too kind and tactful to say anything more.

Ally nodded to Harry who was looking excited at the prospect of being able to order his own ice-cream and not one of Dudley's rejected ones.

"Can I have a fudge sundae, please," Harry asked politely getting a beaming response from Florean, who then turned his gaze to Ally.

Ally shrugged her shoulders, "You know me well enough by now, Florean, surprise me."

Florean nodded before bustling off, he was back within a moment with a fudge sundae for Harry and a Wizarding Knickerbocker Glory, one that changed colour and flavours when you ingested it.

Ally quickly paid Florean a great deal extra cutting off both Harry and Florean's protests, both knew better than to argue with her, they would never win, she was too stubborn.

Leaving the ice-cream parlour, it was Harry's turn to choose a shop to visit, he chose the Apothecary. Harry had always been interested in science and the way Ally had described Potions, he was very excited to find out more. When they entered the Apothecary, Harry allowed Ally to do their purchasing whilst he looked around the shop at various interesting potions ingredients. From black beetle's eyes, unicorn horns to something that resembled large piles of dung.

Ally meanwhile was busy buying them both intermediate potions ingredients kits, she knew from her experience as a Healer that apothecary's sold the worst ingredients together in starter kits. Ally had been a qualified Healer for six years, she had had to get the training to be able to take care of her family, she may not have been an obvious Healer like Melody but she knew enough to be considered to be the best of Healers in St. Mungo's due to her various experiences there. As a Healer she had access to the very best of the Apothecary's ingredients and that is what she bought for Hogwarts, knowing all too well from her cousin what the Potion's Master, Severus Snape was like.

"Harry," Ally called tapping her betrothed on the shoulder, startling him, "oops, sorry, I did not mean to scare you. I'm done, here's yours," once again like in the robe shop she had gotten the packages shrunk and had managed to drive a hard bargain.

It was once again Ally's choice of shop and she decided that they should visit Flourish and Blotts bookshop, the store was the best bookshop in the entirety of magical Britain. The manager was a good friend of her great-grandfather and as such treated her like a favourite grandchild, she loved the shop.

"Hi, Grampy Flourish," Ally called over to an old man who was glaring as he spied on one of his clerks dealing with customers. At Ally's entrance he turned and his wrinkled face grew into a grin.

"Ally-Cat," the old man held out his arms and Ally gave him a hug, it had been a while since she had seen the old man, he normally visited her in the hospital weekly but recently he had been ill with Dragon Pox, something that could be deadly to man of his age, but Ally had acted quickly enough to save his life.

"Grampy, this is my betrothed, Harry Potter," Ally whispered as she looked cautiously around the shop, introducing the two men to each other. The older man looked scrutinisingly at Harry before nodding his head in acceptance, shaking Harry's wobbly hand.

"So what can I do for the two of you," Grampy Flourish asked, it was very rarely that Ally made a visit because she was always so busy, generally Melody brought over any orders that Ally may need.

"We're going to Hogwarts come September," Harry offered, seeing as Ally seemed to have become distracted with reorganising a shelf.

"Ah, Hogwarts, you'll have fun there, lad," the old man declared before looking to see whether or not Ally was still engrossed in her organisation, seeing that she was he lowered his voice and continued, "no matter how tough that girl seems she has more secrets than you'd think, Mr Potter. She isn't so tough; her life's been hard, take care of her for me, okay? I'm an old man and I won't be around forever but that girl is my family so treat her right and take care of her. You have my blessing."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly just as Ally finished organising the shelf to her liking, "So, Grampy, Harry's probably told you about Hogwarts, now, before you go running off like a headless Hippogriff to find us our right books. I think that we'll both invest in your eternal library facilities."

"You want an eternal library," the old man looked surprised.

"Don't look so shocked, Grampy, we're rich enough to afford it, besides I think it's an absolute pain to have to get new books every year, it's better to have an eternal library because that way our trunks will have a library with first editions of every book that will ever be published and it will self-update. It has preservations charms, Gramps, and frankly, I hate your partner, I know that you aren't going to last for ever, I just want to be prepared," Ally explained, her voice breaking ever-so slightly at the end, it was something both men heard but neither commented on.

"Very well," Grampy nodded, before holding out two cards, one to Harry and the other to Ally.

Ally pulled out a handful of Galleons, counting out 100 Galleons and handing it to the older man with a tremulous smile, Harry doing the same.

"Before you head out, Ally-Cat, you have to know that when I die, I don't want you to come to my funeral, promise me this," the old man beseeched the young redhead who despite looking pained nodded. Flourish sighed in relief, Ally never broke her promises. "You must also promise me that you won't mourn me for too long," at another nod, he continued, "and finally you will inherit my 75% of the shop as an inheritance gift, just take it please, Ally-Cat, you are my family, Garrett was my friend, my brother in everything but blood please take it as a gift from me. You are all I have left."

Tears were falling down Ally's face but she nodded, she remembered Grampy Flourish's friendship with her great-grandfather from her childhood, she had eidetic memory something which was both a blessing and a curse. "I promise, Grampy," Ally knew better than anyone that people died all the time, but he was the last of her older family, after Jenna's death he was the last adult she trusted implicitly that was not otherwise indisposed. Giving the old man one last hug before leaving, Ally thought with a heavy heart that she knew that this would be the last time she would ever see him.

As Ally wiped her tears on the back of her hand, Harry was looking around the alley once again and t a shop stood out to him more than any other, Quality Quidditch Supplies. Ally had explained to him all about Quidditch over ice-cream and he was now incredibly interested. Ally turned and saw where he was looking and sighed, "Okay, we'll go there."

Harry looked shocked; he hadn't noticed that she'd seen his wistful look at the shop. Before he could articulate his shock, Ally had grabbed his hand and pulled him into the shop.

"Okay, we are not buying brooms, okay, we don't need them right now, but I don't see any issues with buying the Quidditch balls, we can buy two sets," Ally pulled Harry away from the brooms, especially the new Nimbus 2000.

Half an hour later they exited the shop, Harry having pocketed the shrunken set of balls that they had bought. Ally had also bought two snitches, one for each of them. They were Professional Seeker's snitches so incredibly quick and effective; she had bartered down their prices significantly and so was quite happy with their purchases. As a compromise to Harry she had taken two standard owl order forms as well so once Harry had picked a Quidditch team they could order more memorabilia.

As the cauldron shop was right next to the Quidditch shop it was a mutual decision to visit it next. Once again, Harry found himself looking at cauldrons which seemed to come in many shapes and sizes, and even materials. There was brass, pewter, copper, silver, gold, self-stirring and collapsible. As an experiences brewer Ally owned many including a gold one, a self-stirring and a collapsible but as she did not own a pewter cauldron of a size 2 size she bought two one for her and one for Harry. Once again, she had saved them over 35% on the price; Harry was beginning to see exactly why Ragnok had smiled so viciously when Ally had declared that she was going to be in charge of helping Harry financially, it was obvious that she was experienced in saving money.

The next few shops saw them buying both glass and crystal phials, Ally insisted that Harry buy a set of silver scales, she herself already owned a gold one for her potion brewing, Harry bought a collapsible brass telescope. When he asked Ally why she was not buying one she explained that she had a family heirloom one that was collapsible and gold, Harry judged from the curtness of her tone that she had inherited it from her father's side of the family, having found out early on that she did not speak at all about her father, instead focusing on her McKinnon heritage from her mother's side.

However, when Ally all but forced him to buy a globe that charted the entire sky as it was as an aid for astronomy along with star charts that were for 7th years, Harry had to ask, "What's your obsession with Astronomy, first you tell me your family is very big on telescopes, and now you are really worried about getting more things for Astronomy than we need, why are you so worried?"

At first Harry worried that he had offended Ally, but he saw her mouth twitching into a wry grin as they paid for all their equipment, even the extras.

"Okay, okay, you're right, there is an expectation for me to do well in Astronomy, all the McKinnon's were good but my father's family were sort of geniuses when it comes to that subject. My cousin is actually the Astronomy Professor at Hogwarts and I need to do well, I am good but there is a lot of expectation. Sorry if it seems a bit much but she is pretty much the only member on that side of the family that talks to me, I can't disappoint her," Ally explained.

Harry nodded, before trying to ask another question, "What is the big deal with your Dad, anyway?"

Immediately Harry watched as Ally tensed up, before forcing herself to relax and answer the question, "One of these days I'll tell you about it, but not today, okay," her emerald green eyes met Harry's and he found himself nodding in agreement.

The next few stops saw them buying automatically refillable ink, parchment rolls in different colours, quills in a variety of types etc.(self-inking, self-correcting, sugar quills, coloured, plumed and self-writing, which Ally insisted they'd need in History of Magic).

Harry chose next, so they found themselves heading towards the pet shops, both of which were conveniently placed next to one another, Eeylops' which sold both owls and other avian creatures and the magical menagerie which sold everything else.

"Okay, so we are allowed a cat, toad or owl," Harry said thoughtfully as he looked at the list. Ally nodded thinking carefully before answering.

"Well, thinking about it, toads are unfashionable but my friend Neville's great-uncle (who happened to be Croaker, not that Ally mentioned that) bought him one as a gift, then my cousin, Susan got a cat, those are nice but owls are more useful as pets, because they carry our mail for us. If we get owls then it will be easier to order anything and we can subscribe to newspapers and the owls will bring them to us. But really it's up to you," Ally finished.

Harry looked thoughtful but before he could make up his mind, Ally was distracted by three cats all of who were playing by her feet, two were black and the last ginger; all had emerald green eyes. One of the black kittens was currently rubbing herself against Ally's legs.

"Madam Greening," Ally called over the owner of the menagerie who approached quickly, Ally was good for business provided she was not annoyed.

"Yes, Miss Ally what can I do for you? Oh, I see you have met our Kneazle kittens," she declared as she saw the three kittens all of whom were now rubbing against Ally's legs.

"How old are these kittens," Ally asked as she looked at the three.

"They are three months old, and have had all their vaccinations, are you currently looking for a pet? These ones are loyal animals and seem to like you a lot," Madam Greening though aware that Ally was a shrewd businesswoman had to try and sell these kittens, very few witches and wizards actually wanted full Kneazle's like these ones because they had to have a license. Ally was one of these few witches.

By this point Harry had walked over and the three kittens had immediately warmed to him and were now giving him the same treatment that they had been giving Ally moments earlier.

"Very well, Madam Greening, I will take all three, Harry who do you prefer the black ones or the ginger?"

"The black," Harry decided, not thinking any more of the question beyond answering, Ally nodded her understanding.

"Madam Greening I need you to get me another license for my friend here," Ally told the woman, who hastened to follow her instructions, she knew from experience that if Ally was kept waiting too long bad things could happen. "Also, send the ginger one to Sarah Fortescue with my regards, it is my understanding that Kneazle's get on well with babies, it is a baby gift."

Three minutes later, Harry found himself carrying a cat basket with his very own Kneazle named Athena, Ally was carrying a similar cage with her own with her Kneazle whom she had named Venus. Harry had complained about this but Ally claimed it a birthday gift.

"So can we get our wands now," Harry asked excitedly, this was what he had been waiting for since the start of the day.

"In a minute," Ally responded before pulling them into the Owl Emporium.

Just as they walked in two owls flew down from the rafters, both snowy, snowy owls were notoriously picky, and so the owner was keen to get rid of them. Especially given that these ones weren't just snowy owls they were phoenix owls- i.e. they were phoenixes that could take on the form of an owl, both owls pecked the children's skin letting them bleed before crying and closing the wounds.

"Just take them, Ally," the owner told the redhead, "they have familiar bonds with you, you don't really need anything for them apart from these," the harassed man shoved a bunch of materials into their arms before shrinking them and shooing them out of his shop.

_Hi my name is Artemis_, a voice sounded in Ally's mind, the girl knew what this was, and it was the familiar bond between the two.

"Hi, Artemis, I'm Ally, and I guess you could say that this is my mate, Harry," Ally introduced her phoenix to Harry.

"Is it normal to be able to hear your phoenix's voice in your head," Harry asked looking incredulously at the young woman next to him.

"Normally, no, but they are our familiars, which is why we can hear them, it's why Dumbledore will have no choice but to allow both our animals with us," Ally explained.

"Well, this phoenix is Apollo, your phoenix is his mate," Harry said blushingly, as he had been told by Apollo that meant that Ally and Harry were soul-mates.

"Okay," Ally said, looking confused at Harry's sudden blush, "well, time for us to go to Ollivander's, it's the wand shop, and this is our last Diagon Alley stop."

"But we haven't gotten everything on the list," Harry protested, but Ally did not seem to hear him as she pulled him into the shop.

Harry looked around interestedly, it was like a very strict library, there was dust everywhere and the shop had an eerie feel to it.

"Good after, Mr Ollivander," Ally said softly and Harry jumped as he felt a presence that was behind him also jump.

The man was old, incredibly so, he had luminous eyes and he was scrutinising Ally carefully like he had never seen anyone like her before. It must be said that in all of Garrick Ollivander's years there had never been a person that had ever been able to shock him, Ally was the only one.

"Ah Mr Potter, Miss Black, I've been expecting you, of course not together," this last was said as an aside, but Ally's sharp ears had caught the words, and she had to stifle a smile.

"Harry should go first, for you look almost giddy with anticipation," Ally commented wryly, neither male seemed to notice, for Ollivander had just started talking.

"Ah, yes, I remember your mother, you have her eyes, you know, it seems just like yesterday she was here purchasing her own wand. Yes, Willow and Unicorn Hair 10 ¼ inches, swishy, good for charms. Your father, however, well his wand was Mahogany, 11 inches; good for transfiguration. Well, when I say it was his wand, it is of course the wand who chooses the wizard.

But I digress, which is your wand arm?"

Harry looked to Ally for advice, but the redhead was stifling a grin and just shrugged.

"M-my right, I suppose," Harry hedged. Then came the most odd measurements that Harry had ever seen, the insides of his arms, the length of his nose, the diameter of his nostrils, all were measured by the self-measuring tape.

"That's quite enough," Ollivander finally said, and of its own accord the tape dropped and Ollivander handed him a wand and told him to "try it".

Harry tried and tried, each wand was more disastrous than the last and then, "I wonder," Ollivander mused.

"Try this one, Mr Potter, Holly and Phoenix feather, nice and supple," Ollivander handed the wand to Harry.

Harry could immediately tell the difference, there seemed to be a powerful humming emitting from the wand and red and gold sparks shot out of the end.

"Well done, Harry, looks like you'll be a Gryffindor after all, I was beginning to wonder," Ally congratulated her friend in her own way.

"How curious," Ollivander muttered, to Ally's disgust Harry asked what was curious and then was told that the phoenix that gave the feather for Harry's wand also gave one to Voldemort's.

"Yes, yes, okay, we get it, you are creepily able to remember everything about your wands, now can we please do my measurements, Mr Ollivander because I think you have successfully freaked Harry out," Ally asked, "oh and spare me the history lesson, I don't feel like being told about my parents' wands, we all know my father's and my mother's, I know all too well."

"Your wand arm, Miss Black," Ollivander asked, he knew that Ally would not take kindly to be ignored.

"I am ambidextrous," Ally finally said, for the next ten minutes the tape measured every part of her body before stopping.

Ollivander seemed very pleased as boxes after boxes of wands were pulled out for Ally to try, eventually after nearly blowing up the shop with one particularly volatile wand she was handed a Vine wand.

"Vine with Phoenix Feather, 14 ½ inches, hard," Ollivander intoned handing it to the young woman in front of him.

Ally reached forward to grab the wand and a bright light emitted from the wand as it trilled a phoenix song before allowing beautiful lilac flames to float in the air.

"Wow," Harry breathed, he had yet to see anything so beautiful in the magical world.

"I think that we can expect much of you, Miss Black, it is not very often that Vine wands pick an owner as you well know, it will be a pleasure to see the magical talent which you possess. This wand will be good for all sorts of magic, even the dark arts should the possessor wish it."

"Yes, thank you, Mr Ollivander, but I can assure I have no curiosity for the so-called Dark Arts. How much do we owe you?"

"14 galleons between the two of you," Ollivander recognised that the conversation was over.

"Very well, good day to you," Ally responded putting the money on the counter before leaving followed by Harry; both pocketing their wands as they left.

Garrick Ollivander watched as the two left, it had been many years since an 11 year old capable of Occlumency had arrived, Ally Black was an enigma. Ollivander was sure that his old friend, Aberforth Dumbledore was going to love her, and it was obvious that Albus Dumbledore had just gotten a very big headache coming in September. Ally Black was not a witch to be trifled with and Garrick knew that Albus had made an enemy of this girl already.


	5. Year 1- Welcome to Knockturn Alley

**Disclaimer: I am not blonde nor am I JKRowling, so I only own my OCs and this plot line.**

**A/N: Sorry for the slight delay, real life caught up with me. Here's the next chapter. Also please remember to vote in my Ginny poll- good or evil? **

**Please Read and Review, it'll make my day. Thanks to Neverlookingback who was my only reviewer, your review gave me faith! Thanks also to those who followed and favourite. :P**

**Chapter 4- Welcome to Knockturn Alley:**

"So where is it that we are going to get the rest of our supplies if it isn't Diagon Alley?" Harry asked, he had seen the other alleyways but they had all seemed dark and foreboding so Harry hardly thought that Ally planned on taking them down one of those.

Ally looked around cautiously before whispering, "We're going down Knockturn Alley," Ally pointed to the darkest Alley that was an offshoot from Diagon Alley.

"But- but it looks dangerous," Harry spluttered; he had a feeling that he would not be welcome down the dark alley simply because he was the reason that Lord Voldemort had died.

"Oh, believe me when I say this Harry, if you ever go down there on your own and I find out, I will castrate you, am I clear," Ally asked, seeing Harry's horrified look she continued, "you're right it is dangerous. But you'll be okay, if you're with me, as you've probably worked out people are scared of me. They know better than to get on my wrong side and resultantly I am okay if I decide to go down Knockturn Alley. You'll be fine if you stick close to me."

Harry nodded before watching as Ally shot a look around and then seeing no obvious threats ducked into the Alley followed by Harry. It was obvious that this was not a place of good reputation, from the hags to the prostitutes, Harry had no doubt that he would not be returning without Ally who seemed to scare all the unwanted stall traders away from them.

"Come on, we still need to get our trunks, Tellman's the best, but he's expensive so doesn't sell many which is why he cannot afford to be in Diagon Alley, Knockturn is cheaper," Ally explained to Harry before pushing him into the trunk shop and ducking in behind him. The bell rang them in as the door shut behind Ally.

"Ally," a voice exclaimed cheerfully as a little girl appeared from nowhere and chucked herself at the redhead's legs, Ally groaned on impact and put down her Kneazle cage to be able to pick up the little girl and swing her around before placing her back down on the ground.

"Hi, Maisie," Ally responded, "are you being a good girl for your parents?"

"Uh huh," the little girl nodded enthusiastically causing her blonde ringlets to bounce about her face.

"Hello, Ally," a voice came from behind them, Harry spun in shock but Ally had already felt the man's presence so merely smiled as she turned around more slowly.

"Hi, Tim, please don't do that, you're scaring my friend, he's new to the Wizarding World."

"Oh sorry, I did not know you were muggle-born, I am Timothy Tellman, owner of this fine establishment."

"Harry, Harry Potter," the young man introduced himself, looking mildly surprised when the older man choked on air.

Ally laughed at the look on Tim's face, "I trust you understand why you need to be discreet about this?"

Tim paled slightly before nodding, "Of course, Ally. Now, Maisie, hurry along, I'm sure Ally will visit you again soon." Once the little girl had left, he turned back to face the redhead. "What do you need?"

"We are heading off to Hogwarts in a month's time, and I know that business isn't great down here so I was wondering if you had your top of the range household trunks. I'm not kidding, Tim, with all the works," Ally asked, she knew that those trunks were expensive so were hardly sold, so she hoped that Tim had some in stock, it would make life a lot easier for both of them.

Harry stared in shock at Ally, whilst Tim's face broke out into a grin.

"You're in luck, kiddo, I have three Unspeakable Trunks of that nature so you can even do magic in them," Tim explained and smiled at the happiness on Ally's face, it was not a look that was generally seen in her eyes.

"I'm shocked that you managed to get your hands on three of them, we all know exactly how well regulated they are, any that do make their way into a shop generally end up on the black market at shops like Borgin and Burkes. But you're right in thinking that I am interested, let's see them then," Ally replied. Then turning to Harry she explained, "Unspeakable trunks are the top of the range trunks which most people cannot afford or even get their hands on, they can be disguised as ordinary ones too so as not to attract any unwarranted attention. I inherited one from my godmother but I can't use that, it's too special."

"Why do we need them though," Harry asked, not fully comprehending the benefits of such a trunk.

"Simple, it's always good to be vigilant, you never know when you might need something like that," Ally returned, her godmother had been good friends with Alastor Moody and as such Ally knew him well. The guy was a paranoid old so-and-so but he had the right idea when it came to vigilance.

Tim returned carrying three miniature trunks in his hand; one was a handsome dark wood, another pale and the last a dark red, all were polished to perfection. They each had the facility of having one's names engraved onto it.

"Those are brilliant, Tim, I'm not stupid enough to ask you how you got them, I know that they're not illegal because I can sense those dealings a mile away. Okay, Harry you choose first, which one do you want to have?"

"I'd like the dark wood one," Harry finally decided, the lightwood was too garish and the he preferred the dark to the red.

Tim nodded before putting the dark one to one side and then turning expectantly towards Ally who smirked.

"Well, you know me Tim; I'll have the red one, please."

Ten minutes later Harry and Ally had both stored all their shopping, pets and familiars in their trunks which they had had their names engraved on. Both trunks were now shrunk and fit into their pockets. Harry had decided that he loved magic; it made shopping so much easier.

"Where are we going now," Harry asked Ally as she pulled him past different shops including Borgin and Burkes. Harry decided that he definitely did not like the look of most of the shops he was scurried past.

"Here," Ally ground to a halt in front of an ancient shop one that looked even older than Ollivander's called "Ye Olde Wand Shoppe".

"But we've already gotten wands," Harry protested as Ally dragged him into the shop.

"Garrett, are you in here," Ally called out, the smell in this wand shop was not nearly as musty and the entire room seemed alive with magical power.

"Ah, Ally Black, I thought that I'd be seeing you again soon," the voice that echoed from the gloom came attached to an old man, one that resembled Ollivander a lot, except perhaps older and slightly less creepy.

"Harry, I'd like you to meet Garrett Ollivander, he's the older brother of the one you met in Diagon Alley, he's also the saner and sneakier of the two brothers. Probably the reason why I get on so well with him," Ally explained.

"Well, I am the one living and working in Knockturn Alley for a reason, Ally."

"Don't I know it; the Ministry just doesn't like you because you fall outside their jurisdiction. Thankfully, otherwise we'd have more problems than I'd like to think about."

Garrett Ollivander chuckled, "Now, Mr Potter, I suppose my brother has already managed to freak you out considerably about your wand, it is nothing to really worry about, it is the wizard that makes the wand, not the wand influencing the wizard."

Harry nodded, relieved, he liked this Ollivander more.

Ally turned to face Harry, "Don't worry about having to try endless wands here, Garrett is a much more precise wandmaker, he makes custom made wands. All you have to do is follow your instincts to the materials that you feel are calling you."

Garrett smiled, he would have loved to have taken Ally on as an apprentice but her knowledge on wand lore was already significant to the level that she did not need any training, "go on then, Mr Potter; do as she says."

Harry followed the pull and a half hour later was the owner of another Holly wand this one with a core of unicorn hair, ten and ¾ inches, nice and supple which was meant to be good for defensive and offensive magic.

When it was Ally's turn she could feel too many ingredients calling to her so it took her a while longer to find all of the ingredients. Finally it was all collected and she handed all of the ingredients to Garrett who sighed.

"You had to make life difficult for me, didn't you? This has to be one of the most complicated wands I've ever made. Anyway, a combination of Apple, Dogwood, Cherry and Walnut, eleven and ¾ inches, good for all sorts of magic, nice and supple. This is a very powerful wand; I highly doubt that I need to tell you to use it wisely?"

Ally smiled at the kindly old man, "You know me Garrett, I will use the wand like she deserves. I think you know how to be discreet?"

"Of course, and I must ask the same of you and your young friend?"

Ally nodded, "We wouldn't dream of selling you out, oh, and Garrett, you might be interested to know that your brother has only just realised the extent of Dumbledore's issues, he may be paying a visit to you very shortly."

Ally winked as she chucked a heavy bag of coins on the table, grabbing two dragon hide wand holsters and pulling Harry out behind her.

Garrett Ollivander was left pondering what Ally said, if she was right like she mostly was then Dumbledore had a lot of trouble coming his way for even his foolhardy younger brother to want to jump ship. It was high time he contacted Alastor Moody, perhaps there was hope yet. Garrett Ollivander chuckled to himself as he shut up shop, yes, Albus Dumbledore was about to find out why you never tickled a sleeping dragon. Yes, Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus indeed. Oh, how he suddenly missed Hogwarts, it was about to be an interesting seven years.

Ally smiled as she led Harry out of the old wandmaker's shop, she knew that she had definitely thrown a spanner in the works when she had visited Garrick Ollivander in Diagon Alley; she just had to see where the chips fell now.

"So, why do we have two wands and why do we have to be discreet about it," Harry asked.

"Simple, only purebloods have two wands and well the Ministry doesn't like it. Given the fact that neither of us have proper guardians in the magical world, it's probably a good thing not to mention it, use the second wand in private or in dire situations if not use the first wand we purchased. The second allows the Trace to vanish, i.e. you can do magic outside of school with it. You'll appreciate it one day, trust me," Ally explained. Harry was surprised to find that he did trust this young girl and so nodded his head in acceptance.

"So, are we done yet?"

"Calm down, Potter, I'll get you back to Surrey in time. We only have one more shop to go to and I think you'll like it," Ally smirked mischievously, a look that worried Harry.

Ally stopped dragging him finally as they reached a shop, it was the one furthest in the bowels of Knockturn Alley, so much so that it did not get very many visitors, something that the owner had done on purpose.

"Are you sure about this," Harry muttered, worried.

Ally smirked before quickly throwing the door open and pushing Harry into the shop, "Welcome to Emerald's."

Harry blinked shocked, the shop was not dark at all; it seemed to be some sort of a cross between a beauticians, opticians, hairdressing and piercing and tattoo place.

"Did someone say my name," a voice asked, it belonged to a young woman with wavy blonde hair that reached mid-back level with stunning emerald green eyes; she could not have been more than 26 or 27 years of age.

"Hey Em, this is Jenna's nephew, Harry," Ally pushed Harry forward towards the attractive young woman and watched as the two shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, Harry, Kitten over here would not have brought you to me or out shopping at all if she didn't like or trust you. Especially today, given the fact that it's her birthday, she's always a bit more touchy than usual. Oh, I'm Emerald by the way," Emerald introduced herself before looking at the shocked expression on Harry's face as he turned to face Ally.

"It's you birthday as well, why didn't you say anything?"

"It's no big deal; it's never really celebrated, so I didn't really bother with telling you. Anyway, Em, stop it, its fine, just the same as any other year. Besides you and Blaise have already made my day by sending me the owl post."

Emerald scowled, "But it shouldn't be, it's the big year, the Hogwarts year, it should be a big deal this year! And you are most welcome for the gift."

Ally rolled her eyes, "How are you, Em, it's been a while."

Emerald and Harry both sighed hearing the evasion in her voice but continuing on knowing not to push her.

"I've been busy, the shop has had a new function added to it, any ideas what it is, Als," Emerald asked the redhead; she wondered if the younger girl had worked it out because Ally was known to be perceptive.

"Yeah, you've attached a trigger charm, one that lets you know when someone enters your shop and then you can appear through a teleportation spectrum from the office. I presume it's why Croaker has been on the warpath lately with my inventions," Ally replied completely confusing poor Harry.

"Well, you haven't lost your touch at least," Emerald commented wryly, "so what brings you to my humble abode?"

"A make-over, I'm not completely stupid so as to believe that this is what the Wizarding World wants their saviour to look like, Harry needs to look the part or Rita Skeeter will have a field day."

Harry spluttered incoherently, "what's wrong with how I look?"

Ally grimaced, "That's not what I meant Harry, what I meant was that you need to become healthier. Apparently you are suffering from malnutrition from living with you so-called family for the last decade."

"Can that be corrected," Harry asked, although nothing that the Wizarding World could achieve shocked him anymore. Harry felt relieved; he had a feeling that going to Diagon Alley with Hagrid would have been a much different experience than the one that Ally took him on, especially given what they had found out about Dumbledore's manipulations.

"Of course, most things can be with magic," Emerald commented looking Harry over before turning to address Ally who was looking through hair dye options. "Do you still know how to cast glamour charms?"

"Of course," Ally did not even look up from the dye she had picked up, "can I buy some of this?"

Emerald looked at her in confusion before nodding, "of course, although I'm not sure why you'd want any given your unique talent."

"Well, let's just say my father's legacy is not going to be forgotten, I roped Nev and Sue in," Ally gave a predatory laugh.

"Right," Emerald looked highly uncomfortable before turning to Harry, "well then let's get started kid."

"He's too pale," Ally offered.

"He's got glasses," Emerald shot back, this was a game to them; a quill was scratching all the problems that the two were listing.

"He's too short."

"He needs muscle."

"In short, he needs the bad-boy make-over," at Harry and Emerald's incredulous looks, she hastened to explain, "I know that he's got to get married to me but Teen Witch Weekly doesn't, they are going to hound him, he may as well look the part to give them something to talk about that isn't pure crap."

Emerald nodded, "Okay, let's get started, you are better at some of this stuff than me, so I'll do the hair and you work on the potions," she offered knowing that Ally was far better at potions than she herself was.

"Okay," Harry agreed, he knew better than to test Ally and just to trust her by this point, so he resigned himself to the inevitable.

An hour later Harry was no longer scarily pale in complexion but was lightly tanned (which was actually his natural skin tone), his messy black hair now had a few dark red strands to honour his mother, Lily and aunt, Jenna. His emerald green eyes were no longer hidden behind broken glasses as his eyesight had been corrected by a potion of Ally's own design. After a nutrition regiment taken with a special accelerator that Ally had also made he was now a decent height for an 11 year old male, standing one inch taller than Ally at 5 foot 3 and was well muscled.

"So am I done," Harry asked the two women naively.

"Oh no, this is not all the bad boy look entails," Emerald gave a laugh that worried Harry.

"Don't worry it's going to be nothing drastic, just a dragon fang in one ear and maybe one or two tattoos," Ally explained, upon seeing Harry's horrified look she continued, "don't worry I'm getting a couple of piercings and tattoos also."

So this was how Harry found himself at 5 o'clock leaving Knockturn Alley with a pierced ear which had what was a Hungarian Horntail fang in his left ear, a tattoo with a stag, bear-like dog and wolf surrounded by lilies on his left shoulder (at the suggestion of both Ally and Emerald, one did not challenge women with needles). At Ally's urging he also had a matching tattoo to match Ally's phoenix on the inside of his right wrist, this was where Ally had one too, done many years ago with a special ink that could make it disappear whenever it needed to (Harry coincidentally had the same choice).

Ally herself was smiling pleased; she had gotten a belly button piercing with both the upper and lower part of the area to add to her three piercings in her ears. She had also gotten a couple of new tattoos. She had the phoenix on her right from years ago to cover a previous inking from her early childhood and a small lily atop a stag surrounded by a werewolf and grim-like dog on the small of her back from before, to this collection she now added a jigsaw puzzle with red, blue, green and yellow pieces, and each piece had a different illustration on it. The red piece a plant, the yellow a scroll, the green a speech bubble and the blue a wand, no matter how much Harry asked of its significance, Ally remained silent. The last tattoo was on her left shoulder and was one that Ally did explain it was a small dragon intertwined with a phoenix which Ally explained showed the two sides of her personality, the forgiving phoenix and the predatory dragon.

Ally suddenly stepped into the middle of Diagon Alley and pulled out the wand that she had purchased at Diagon Alley and seemed to be hailing something, sure enough much to Harry's shock a triple decker purple bus came forth.

"Hi Stan," Ally greeted the pimply conductor before he could start speaking.

"H-hi, Ally," Stan stuttered, "What can I do for you?"

"I need you and Ernie to take my friend Harry, and yes, Harry Potter to number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging in Surrey. I'll give you both three galleons if you be discreet about it?"

Stan nodded, "you got it ma'am."

Ally smiled handing over the six galleons before turning to face Harry, "remember what I said about wand lore and magic, Potter," discreetly reminding Harry which wand to use at the Dursleys.

Harry put one foot onto the purple bus before turning to face Ally, "so I'll see you on the train?"

Ally smiled, "of course, and remember Apollo can find me if you need anything. Oh and Potter? Remember King's Cross, 10:45 don't be late." Then in a burst of emotion stepped forward and pecked him on the cheek before disappearing into the crowds of Diagon Alley.

Stunned Harry stared after her back but could not see her, sighing he got onto the bus and headed back to a mundane life. Although, he had a feeling that nothing from now on would ever be normal again especially given his friendship with Ally Black.

**A/N: Please Read and Review. Also the Ginny poll has had no votes, please let me know via PM or review whether you want her to be good or evil!**

**Ally xx**


	6. Year 1- The Platform

**Disclaimer: I'm still not J K Rowling so I do not own Harry Potter but just my OCs and plotline.**

**A/N: Sorry for the wait everyone. Here's the next chapter. **

**Thanks to Stoopid dawg, Catsfissh, Neverlookingbackfromlife, nymlover, Grazielly, kadee son 12345, articwolf12, Mercedes Rika Black, Anonymous0786, DarkNoize, dream lighting and Penny is Wise.**

**Thanks to everyone who voted for the Ginny poll last chapter. So far it seems as though Ginny is going to be evil to Ally but nice to Harry to try and get him to fall in love with her. However, the poll is still open so vote!**

**Should Ginny be good or evil and to whom?**

**Please read and review! :D**

**Chapter 5- The Platform:**

Ally's last month was spent chasing after old allies and finding new ones, she knew that the next few years would be make or break for the Wizarding World. Ally resented Albus Dumbledore; he was a flawed, old man who seemed to believe that he was infallible. But Ally was on the opposite end of the spectrum; she was young and was constantly aware of her own mortality. Ally was paranoid, or at least that's what most people would think, she was 11 and preparing for a war that may not even come. Those people were naïve, they were living in a world of fantasy, and Ally pitied them.

She had allies, young and old, rich and poor and from every blood type and walk of life. Ally normally hated her family ties but she had to admit that being the daughter of the two oldest lines in the entire Wizarding world gave her a lot of avenues to explore. So she exploited them, not for herself but for the people she couldn't stand to see hurt.

Ally refused to bribe or intimidate to form alliances; instead she chased up contacts from both sides of her family, resurrected old family ties and bartered with seasoned war veterans. The younger generation were easier to recruit, she met Hogwarts students, ones that had just left or ones higher in the school and turned them into allies and friends, she met with people her own age to form tentative networks of spies in each of the Hogwarts houses. However, these were all avenues that Dumbledore himself had pursued in the past, but Ally had pursued something that was different, she had made friendships with magical creatures who had offered to help her. All in all the summer had been very productive for Ally Black.

Ally sighed heavily, September had arrived too quickly but she was comforted by the fact that Melody had promised to take care of her mother and grandparents well. Mel's promise was the reason she was standing at King's Cross on her own waiting for the Bones' and Longbottom's to arrive. Ally was shrewd enough to realise that she could not appear to already be friends with Harry because it would cause immediate suspicion, something that none of them needed right then.

"Alexandra," a voice came from behind her, Ally did not even react; she had known that someone was approaching.

"Madam Longbottom," she greeted formally, her voice lacking any warmth. Augusta Longbottom had never made any bones over the fact that she absolutely hated Ally, but as she was Frank's god-daughter she had no choice but to let her be acquainted with Neville. Augusta was a formidable witch but she knew that if she so wished Ally could crush her like a bug.

"Hi Al," Neville muttered as he peeked at her conspiratorially through his Dark fringe.

"Hey Neville, Madam perhaps you should leave Neville with me, I believe that I know my way onto the platform and surely you have a council meeting to go to," Ally's suggestion was not really a choice but an order.

Augusta Longbottom was a clever witch and had played politics long enough to know that Ally Black was not a witch to be trifled with, whilst Augusta may have had age and experience on the younger girl, Ally was far more powerful in all other respects. Augusta had no wish to alienate one of the most powerful people in the Wizarding world; she may trust Dumbledore but was not stupid enough to antagonise a powerful force of good.

"Very well, Neville, I shall send anything you may have forgotten by owl post, good day Miss Black," that being said Augusta turned and walked away leaving two 11 year olds smiling behind her.

"Good summer, Nev," Ally enquired as the two moved to a more secluded spot of the station, strategically placing themselves near platform number 9.

"Not bad," Neville responded, whilst to the outsider it may seem like Neville Longbottom was very shy and terrible at magic and had a horrific memory those who really knew him knew that it was a clever act.

"So lots of my cousin, then," Ally asked watching good-humouredly as Neville blushed bright red. It had been obvious to Ally for many years that Neville and Susan were meant for each other. Unfortunately, both were at a stage where they found the opposite sex to be disgusting to have a relationship with.

"Of course, but only because you're related to pretty much everyone," Neville shot back causing Ally to laugh softly and Neville to smile.

"You know that I meant Susan," she replied smiling.

"Did someone just say my name?"

Both the redhead and brunette turned to see a strawberry blonde girl around their age approach with a strong-jawed witch who also had strawberry blonde hair.

"Hey, Susie," Ally smiled at her cousin, as she hugged the older girl tightly before passing her over to a blushing Neville and hugging her Aunt Amelia.

"Hello, Neville, Ally," Amelia Bones greeted the two young 11 year-olds. Amelia Bones, or Amy to her friends and family was the most powerful witch in the Ministry for Magic, she was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the youngest and only female one in history. Amelia was a formidable witch and ally, one who did not support Dumbledore and never had, she instead offered her support to her nieces Ally and Susan.

"Hey, Auntie Amy," Ally replied looking up at the stately witch, "did you manage to sort out the toad infestation?"

Neville and Susan looked confused for a moment before understanding dawned on their faces and they held back laughs. Amelia for her part hid her mirth but Ally could see it bubbling in her eyes.

"Well, not as much as I had hoped, we got rid of her from making important decisions but Fudge put her into a place in his own office," Amelia responded, she knew that Ally would not be pleased but was shocked to see a wry smile on her face.

"Not an issue, I had a feeling that that was going to happen, it's not a problem for now and until it is, I suggest we leave well enough alone," Ally explained, before gesturing to the pillar between platforms 9 and 10, "shall we?"

The other three nodded and as one barged through the pillar, on the other side a gaggle of people had congregated on the platform, on the train tracks was an old scarlet, steam engine, this was the Hogwarts' Express.

"Well here we are," Amelia sighed as she looked at the three children before her, she knew that all of them had aged beyond their time; two were still children and the third a warrior.

"Are you going soft on us, Auntie Amy," Neville teased the older woman who gave a watery chuckle.

"Of course not, but it seems just the other day to me that you three were babies."

"No, it was just the other day that Susan accidentally set your favourite dress robes on fire when she lost control over her emotions," Ally commented wryly, causing Amelia to chuckle and Susan's protests to die on her lips as she saw her aunt's amusement.

"Okay, you guys better get on the train before it leaves without you," Amelia finally said giving the three one last hug and helping them into an empty compartment, with one last wave, Amelia Bones disapparated.

"Well, this is it," Susan commented, "time for our plans to start."

Neville nodded whilst Ally gave a feral smile.


	7. Year 1- The Hogwarts Express

**Disclaimer: Sorry folks, still don't own the Franchise just the OCs and the plotline**

**A/N: Here is the next chapter guys, hope you enjoy.**

**Dream lighting- thanks for the opinions, we'll see what we can do about Ally and Draco's relationship, it's certainly one that will evolve over the course of the books.**

**Blue Luver5000- It's great to know that you are enjoying it, keep reading please and feedback is always welcome.**

**Neverlookingbackfromlife- I'm glad you thinks so, yeah, the actions about to begin. Neville is very cute, I must admit, but he is hard to write as he is quite AU. As for Luna and her dad, I think in this very early stage it is hard to commit to anything but I do think that they'll be making an appearance at some point. **

**Articwolf12- I'm glad that you are enjoying it, but all the plans will not be coming together for a while, these are just the seeds of change.**

**Pennyiswise- thanks and keep reading and reviewing**

**Anja- thank you for saying that I have a good style, it is much appreciated, keep reading and reviewing.**

**In case you guys haven't worked it out, please Read and Review. The poll about Ginny is still open so far we have a majority of evil or semi-evil. Please let me know if you want Ginny-bashing!**

**Now on with the story**

* * *

><p><strong><span>Chapter 6- The Hogwarts' Express:<span>**

The three friends had settled into the last carriage on the train normally used by the 7th years but when the said students turned up they took one look at Ally and turned back and out of the compartment. Ally's reputation preceded her, that and people were shared by her last name.

A few people from a variety of different houses turned up to quickly pass on messages to Ally before leaving as quickly as they had arrived- the revolution had begun. The last two people to pop in were the Weasley twins. Ally did not trust all the Weasley's but she trusted some, she had made an alliance with the two oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie who were overseas but giving her intel from Egypt and Romania. Percy Weasley not an ally resembling his mother too much to be of any use, Molly Prewett was a nightmare to their cause, the woman was bigoted and seriously misguided. Fred and George, or Gred and Forge to their friends were however incredibly useful, they had intelligence and wit, and were pranksters at heart but Ally valued their abilities greatly. As for the two youngest and the oldest Weasley, well Ally liked Arthur but knew that he was of no use to their movement, Ron seemed to have been dropped on his head a lot and Ginny, well that remained to be seen.

"Hey, Ally-Cat," one of the twins greeted as they entered with their close friend, Lee Jordan.

"Hi, Forge, Gred and of course, Lee," Ally greeted the three before introducing them to her friends.

"So we came here to offer our services," Fred followed on from his twin, "we have just delivered our baby brother to sit with young Harry Potter."

Ally smirked; this was all part of her plan which the twins were helping her out with, "the same reactions as we had anticipated?"

Lee nodded, "Ron was even more of an idiot than we gave him credit for- he's not only a git but a prejudiced arse. Honestly, if you hadn't rescued Harry from Hagrid's clutches then Dumbledore's plan would have worked by now, Harry would have been blind to the intricacies of Wizarding politics."

"Well, the plan was good; except for the fact that now we may have difficulty in extracting Harry from Ron. You know that your brother is going to try to stick to him like a shadow, right?" Ally warned the twins.

"Does Ginny know of the contract," Neville asked suddenly as a thought occurred to him.

"No, we don't know that for sure-"

" if ickle Gin-gin has aspirations to marry Harry-kins-"

"We told her all the stories, Mum told us-"

"Were just stories-"

"But she's not over her crush ," George finished the twin speech.

"Well, we may be able to get her to help us when she's slightly older," Susan commented causing chuckles from the Gryffindor 3rd years.

"You do realise that Ginny is only a year younger than you, right?" Lee asked.

"Of course, but I will not let an 11 year-old join, she'll have to be at least a 2nd year. The last thing we need is to overwhelm her, that and I'm not sure as to whether or not we can trust her. Susie, remember that she is just like a mini-stalker for Harry, that's the last thing that any of us need. Sorry, Gred, Forge."

"You're 11," Gred pointed out.

"Yes, but has she done half the things that Ally has," Neville asked fairly.

"Of course not-"

"Lee, that's his point, Ginny is still innocent, we have to wait a while," Ally responded easily.

The three third years nodded, understanding the merits of Ally's point before turning to face the first-years.

"Any ideas for us, Ally-Cat," George asked the redhead who had a small smile gracing her lips.

"Of course, Georgie-pie, all you had to do was ask," Ally's grin was feral to say the least. She almost laughed at the scared looks on the twins' faces.

So the six put their heads together and began to plan, it was one of an elaborate nature, targeting certain individuals from all four houses and the teacher's table, although they all knew that this would not be possible to put into action until a lot later on in the year. Eventually they all agreed and the three older students left, leaving the first-years to their thoughts.

Unfortunately they weren't uninterrupted for long for a pale blond boy with two massive body-guards had muscled their way into the compartment. Ally looked up mildly before smiling a smile that did not reach her eyes fully.

"Hello, cousin," the blond drawled as he locked mercury eyes onto emerald green.

"Draco," Ally replied mildly, her cousin was a minor irritant at best, they hated each other, Ally did not have too much of an issue with Lucius or Narcissa Malfoy, of course she did not agree with all their choices but she could and did tolerate them. Draco, however, was not someone she had to or did tolerate, she was possibly the first person he had ever met that did not bend to his whims at least somewhat, and that created a strong rivalry between the two.

"You know you hang around riff-raff too much and they'll rub off on you. Maybe you should be more careful of your friends cousin, wouldn't want to end up like Mummy and Daddy, would you?" Draco smirked clearly expecting an explosive reaction; he was disappointed for Ally only smiled.

"I hardly think that you are in any position to tell me how to make friends cousin, after all the only reason people are reverent to you is because of your daddy's money, I make my friends off my personality. On second thought, it's a good thing your daddy is rich otherwise you'd have nothing because your personality is pretty skint," Ally shot back before pushing the trio out of their compartment with a small blast of magic.

"Anything off the trolley, dears," a voice came from the doorway.

Neville smiled before handing her 1 galleon and collecting the goodies for the entire compartment, each student was rich in their own right so took turns treating one another, it just happened to be Neville's turn.

"Chocolate frog," Susan offered Ally who took it absent-mindedly as she stared at a bank statement.

"That old coot," Ally bitched as she understood exactly what the statement was showing, biting off the head of the frog particularly viciously.

"What's he done," Susan asked worried, Ally was normally the most level headed person she knew, for her to be so annoyed was rare and must be causing a lot of damage.

"You and Neville should take a look at this," Ally passed the paper to the other two and stared the chocolate frog card she had opened and grimaced. The card showed a picture of Albus Dumbledore, she had a feeling that fate had a sick sense of humour.

"You get Dumbledore, again," Neville asked sympathetically and at Ally's nod grimaced before turning back to the paper in front of him.

"So what do you guys think," Ally asked as she looked up at the other two after she had clicked her fingers and set the card on fire.

"Well, this vault appears to be empty, was it not meant to be," Neville asked, he was more experiences with Gringotts than Susan was given the fact that his Uncle Algie sometimes took him.

"Let's put it this way, that vault should never have been emptied without the presence of one of its owners. The fact that it has makes it reek of Albus Dumbledore," Ally spat, she had enough problems without the old coot causing more.

"Great, what are the chances that the owner knows," Susan sighed, she had a feeling that Ally's hands were tied otherwise the other redhead would be doing something about it instead of just venting.

"Highly unlikely because I truly doubt that they would allow Dumbledore to do what he did," Ally grimaced at the thought, she wasn't 100% sure and knew that she had to keep any information and ideas she had to herself to prevent wrong decisions.

"So we leave it alone until we have no choice but to intervene," Susan asked the young woman who she considered to be her sister.

"Exactly, besides we have to learn to live a little at least before the world goes back to pot," Ally smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Als, I know that you don't really like talking about it, but I was wondering is the cure going to work on your mother's family," Neville asked, of the people that knew about the McKinnon's condition he was one of the few that knew that Ally wasn't revealing all of the information she had.

"I don't know Nev, the future is blurred at best, even the placenta cure may not work, I'll try but I guess a part of me is loath to want to think about it not working. But it is a possible eventuality because that coma is something self-inflicted, so I don't know.

That and I actually have to have a kid before that, these things have a sale-by date and I really don't know what to do anymore."

"You know that Bones Manor is always open to you, Auntie Amy loves having you around, it really brightens her up," Susan quickly changed the tack of what they were discussing.

"Susie, I love her, but I can't get too close to her, she's the closest thing I have to a mother and I can't risk her dying, people around me get hurt, maybe one day I will but I'm not willing to risk it right now. You are only 11, you need a guardian, I've been able to look after myself for many years; a few more won't hurt."

Neville sighed as he took in the expressions on the two girls' faces; Susan was torn between affection and shock whilst Ally like normal had a calm and wry grin on her face as she shrugged her shoulders.

Before anything else could be said a bushy-haired, buck-toothed girl stuck her head into the compartment and then strode in. It was evident immediately to Ally that this girl was a muggle-born first-year, but an uppity one at that. Susan and Neville had been taught many years ago by Ally and Algie how to investigate a person with one look, so they did so. The girl was wearing black robes and was holding a wand tightly in her hands and was looking around imperiously.

The girl took in the appearance of the three individuals in the compartment and snorted derisively, it was evident to her that these young children were muggle-born like her but had apparently no desire to be magical as they were wearing muggle clothing and had no breeding or class. Of course neither did the Weasley boy that she had met moments before. She took in the young boy's attire, Neville was wearing khaki trousers and a plain blue shirt- nothing about him screamed of breeding, he was of no consequence to her. Hermione Granger, for that was her name wanted to marry into an illustrious family, she had researched the Wizarding World quite thoroughly and had already decided that she was going to be a Gryffindor no matter what it took, she was also going to marry a rich individual and have everything money could buy, this young man in front of her was muggle-born and as such had nothing to offer her.

The other two in the compartment much to Hermione's displeasure were female, exquisitely beautiful ones at that. Hermione may have had many faults but she knew that she was not pretty but she had "brains", these two young women in her mind were rivals for her quest to marry a pureblood heir. The two girls were pale-skinned but seemed to have a natural healthy glow about them; one was tall and willowy with red hair and the other though shorter promised to have a good figure when older and had beautiful strawberry blonde hair. The strawberry blonde was wearing a muggle summer dress, which was pale blue in colour, complementing her blue-grey eyes. The redhead on the other hand, well she was the one that Hermione had decided was going to be her main rival when vying for the affections of young heirs, she was wearing denim cut-offs which revealed her long willowy legs which had a healthy summer than and a tank top which was emerald green to suit her eyes. Both girls had freckles but this seemed to add to their appeal.

No, Hermione Granger decided that she was going to show these inferior muggle-borns who was boss. It never occurred to her that this decision may cost her much more than she anticipated.

"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger and I was looking for a Blaise Zabini," Hermione started off with a bossy tone of voice; whilst her books about Wizarding society had taught her a lot it had not taught her everything, such as breeding and politics. She had found out that the Zabini family were neutral and did not completely abhor muggle-borns whilst still being rich, Blaise was the sole heir and she wanted to get into his good graces.

The three in the compartment had a silent discussion, Ally was inwardly laughing, she knew what this girl's ploy was and she was going to allow it to continue because the results were going to be hilarious.

Blaise Zabini was one of Ally's closest friends; his mother was Emerald, so the two had grown up together, becoming good friends in the process. Ally knew Blaise better than most, she knew that although the Zabini's had no problems with muggle-borns they knew all too well what a gold-digger could do to the family, they would not stand for Hermione Granger's interference. Blaise's uncle had been killed by his muggle-born wife who was now what was known as a black widow. Blaise had recently been betrothed to Neville's, Susan's and Ally's childhood friend, Daphne Greengrass, a pureblood witch. Ally gestured to them to let the young witch dig her own grave, they had no use being friends with someone like Hermione Granger.

"So who are you," Hermione demanded, "I bet that you don't even know any of our course books, no wonder they don't think highly of muggle-borns, you give us all bad names. So what are yours?"

Neville hid a grimace before responding, "Neville."

Susan really did not like this young witch so almost spat her name at her, "Susan."

Hermione turned her nose up at this, "Gosh, no wonder you act like that, a name like Susan shows no class."

Ally quickly intervened, she knew that her cousin had a quick temper so introduced herself, "I'm Alexandra, it's a pleasure to meet you Hermione, I'm afraid that I have never even heard of a Blaise Zabini, so sorry we could not be of more help to you."

Hermione apparently did not pick up on the sarcasm, merely huffed before exiting, then stuck her head back through the door and said in a stuck-up voice, "I expect we will be arriving soon, please do change before then I don't want you giving us all a bad name." That being said, Hermione turned and flounced off.

Susan turned to face Neville, "What are the chances that she has only read Lockheart's books on purebloods?"

Ally grinned, "Oh I'm counting on it, that book mentions only four families, the Potters, the Zabinis, the Malfoys and the Crouches. She will have no idea about how powerful we all are, if she did she would have recognised Neville's name. This is going to be so much fun; Daph is going to love this."

Neville and Susan gave feral grins, understanding exactly what Ally was referring to.

"This is going to be so much fun," Susan crowed but one look at Ally shocked her silent.

Ally was glowering slightly, she was a Legilimens and as such if she wished she could skim through thoughts without any hassle and she had done so for Hermione, "She will be in Gryffindor, which means that we need to keep an eye out, it could cause some potential mishaps if we're not careful."

"We have enough friends for damage control, right," Neville asked Ally, he knew just like Susan did that Ally was brilliant at networking, she could get as many allies as necessary and they would never betray her or breathe a word about her plans. "I mean we have Ravenclaw covered with some people and we are all going to go for Gryffindor but what about Hufflepuff and Slytherin? You can take control of your houses at 15 after marriage but until then what is the plan?"

Susan too looked interested as to what Ally's answer was going to be to this.

"Well, that would have been a problem had I not already contacted Cedric Diggory for Hufflepuff, I may hate his father who is a close-minded, arrogant prat but his mother is family, you know what the Blacks say, "blood is thicker than water", he'll help and so will she. As for Slytherin well good old Draco has no choice but to report to his parents who in turn will report to me."

"Merlin, you'll make a good Slytherin," Neville commented, the girl just smirked she knew that Neville did not mean that in a bad way.

"As much as I don't want to agree with the absolute nightmare that is Granger, she's right we have to get changed into our robes," Susan sighed as she looked at her friends, both of whom nodded.

"Nev, you go first," Ally suggested as she and Susan exited the compartment to allow Neville to change.

"You think Harry's going to be annoyed with you for leaving him to Weasley's mercy," Susan asked as they waited.

"Well, he'll be annoyed but he'll get over it," Ally smiled, there was a reason she left Harry with Ron, it was to teach him the difference between normal purebloods and those who were bigoted idiots.

"You guys can switch now," Neville walked out carrying Trevor the toad, wearing his plain black robes.

The rest of the trip after their all gotten changed lasted mere minutes and then they were pocketing their wands and any sweets they had and climbing off the train.

Neville nudged Susan's waist pointing to Ally some distance away who was hugging Harry, "How long do you think it will take for Als to make her move?"

"Are you seriously considering betting on Ally Black's love life, she'll kill you if she finds out," Susan cautioned him. Ally had a temper that much was true but it was very hard to ignite, Neville really did not want to run afoul of it.

Before Neville could formulate a response, Ally had pulled Harry over to them.

Neville held out a hand, "I'm Neville Longbottom; Ally is one of my best friends."

Harry seemed relieved that unlike Ron Weasley Neville did not stare at his scar and ask him if he remembered the horrific events of All Hallow's Eve.

"I'm Susan Bones, Ally is my cousin and Neville's one of my best-friends," the friendly strawberry blonde also held out a hand, this time Harry did not hesitate to shake it.

"Well, I'm Harry, Harry Potter, but you probably already knew that," Harry shrugged self-deprecatingly.

As the quartet huddled together, Neville whispered, "we all know the plan, right," this was said mainly for Harry's benefit.

So it was Harry who answered, "Yep, we don't want to let the old coot realise that something is wrong so we all go into Gryffindor to keep suspicions low."

Susan continued, "We set ourselves out as normal students but make friends in all houses as much as possible."

Neville continued, "Ally's allies that she's gathered over the summer and through her many friends and families have mobilised fully. Some of our friends are travelling to Ravenclaw no matter the consequences."

Ally finished, "Finally we have decided that the Weasley twins have the right idea to hide in plain sight, we become pranksters. Just the four of us on a regular basis with help from other friends or we help out the twins. But to do so we have to set it up correctly, I feel that we have to announce our presence somehow, so I suggest that we confound the Sorting Hat so that it announces colours of the houses in French and then the students have to work out where to go and then at the end spell the hat to say "welcome heirs of mischief…"

The receiving grins from the others were more than enough for Ally to beam as they quickly followed Hagrid's instructions and clambered into a four person boat. They continued a steady stream of conversation as they were rowed across the Black Lake, ducking down when the shout came from Hagrid and laughing when Draco fell in and had to be rescued for not listening to Hagrid.

Suddenly there was an eerie hush as the students saw the Hogwarts castle for the very first time; the lanterns that illuminated the castle bathed it in a gold halo of light.

As they all clambered out of the boats to head towards the castle Hagrid turned to Neville and asked "Yeh there, still got yer toad, yer grandmother told us to watch out for yeh!"

Neville grimaced before calling out, "Yes I've got him Hagrid, my grandmother just worries; you know first year and all."

Susan was giggling whilst, Ally was whispering in hushed tones to Harry what Neville was talking about and why Susan was giggling.

Neville's glaring, Susan's giggling, Harry's nodding and Ally's explaining were all cut off when Hagrid lifted up one massive fist and knocked on the ancient English Oak door thrice.


	8. Year 1- The Sorting Hat

**Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. :(**

**A/N: Yes, I know, finally an update. **

**Dream Lighting- thank you for the review, you'll just have to wait and see in this chapter where the characters go. I had it planned way before your review, so there you have it.**

**Grazielly- many thanks for your review, here is your next update.**

**Penny is wise- I thought that I'd try something different with Hermione, I think that this is at least original, who knows there may be some curveballs later, this story seems to have a life of its own. I'm glad you liked the last chapter**

**Neverlookingbackfromlife- Thanks for the words of encouragement, who knows what may happen to Hermione. Writing this story is hard work, but I hope for the most part you are enjoying it.**

**Blue Luver5000- Ally is mature because although she is young, she has seen a lot in life and not all of it is pleasant. She is a Black after all. In theory she does not live alone, she lives with her cousin, but the two have an interesting relationship that allowed her to basically raise herself.**

**Anonymous- You are welcome to your own opinion. If you have any criticisms please do leave a name so that I can do justice to your review. It does say in my summary that there will be Ron bashing, sorry if that upsets you.**

**reamane21- Thank you for voting in the poll.**

**crazy1person2you3been4warned- Thank you for the kind review, I do try to balance Ally out, she isn't perfect but appears to be so, so as not to appear like her father and prove people wrong about her. Ally is very mature, that's why she may appear to be a Mary-Sue but she really isn't.**

**The Ginny Poll is still open: Good, Evil or Semi, please vote!**

**Please Read and Review. Sorry for the long author's note. Now on with the story...**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 7- The Sorting Hat:<span>**

At first there was no recognition of the knocking, this was scaring the already worried 11 year olds but Hagrid seemed at ease, apparently this was normal. Finally Ally and her friends (all of whom were well-trained, barring Harry who could do this because of necessity of survival thanks to the Dursleys) could hear the sound of footfalls approaching the door from inside the castle.

Surprisingly as the ancient door swung open there were no creaking noises heard. The door had been opened by a stately witch in emerald green robes with square glasses; it occurred to Harry as he looked upon this teacher that she presented a persona who took no nonsense. Ally, on the other hand knew her to be Minerva McGonagall, despite her outward appearance of being someone not to cross, the woman did disregard rules if it suited her purpose, not to mention that she was absolutely loyal to Dumbledore, someone who Ally did not care for much at all.

"Merlin, for a Gryffindor, McGonagall certainly likes dressing in Slytherin colours," Ally turned to face the young woman who had muttered that into her ear, coming face-to-face with Daphne Greengrass.

Daphne Greengrass was a pure-blood witch who was related to Ally like many others, she was her third cousin; they shared the same McKinnon ancestors. Ally's grandfather and Daphne's father were cousins. Resultantly Daphne and Ally had grown up seeing quite a lot of each other; as such they got on incredibly well with one another. Daphne was a beautiful blonde with grey eyes which seemed to shine with iciness.

Ally hid a smile, "Yes, she is partial to the emerald green of Slytherin, cousin, perhaps something one ought to look out for, do tell your cousins of the fact."

Ally's reference was to Daphne's cousins, Tracey Davis and Megan Jones, their mothers were all sisters. Daphne nodded her acknowledgement before disappearing into the shadows as quickly as she had appeared.

"The firs' years, Professor," Hagrid waved a bucket sized hand behind him, completely unaware of the fact that Harry and Ally had to duck to avoid the limb, and that Draco Malfoy was sniggering at their misfortune.

"Thank you, Hagrid," the stern woman replied, her voice was crisp and brooked no answers should anyone wish to ask a question.

The nervous first-years got themselves into a line before following Professor McGonagall through the castle door and into an antechamber where they were told to smarten themselves up for the sorting and about the house system and how to be a credit to one's own house. McGonagall then left leaving the majority of the first-years in a heightened state of panic given the unknown aspects of the sorting. Ally and Daphne found themselves exasperated by Draco's constant antagonistic mannerisms whilst everyone else became increasingly annoyed with the peroxide blond aristocrat and the redhead that was hanging around closely to Harry.

Of course this was when the ghosts of Hogwarts decided to make their entrance and scare most of the first years almost to death and were then scolded away by a returning Professor McGonagall. As she observed them all, Minerva McGonagall was reminded of many past students, there were very few muggle-born first years in this batch.

Minerva's eyes lingered over the messy black haired boy, Harry Potter to the people he had surrounded himself with and had to do a double-take for standing next to Harry Potter was Sirius Black's daughter. Minerva had to admit that if she did not know that this girl was Sirius' daughter she would not have suspected it, for the girl did not truly resemble either of her parents; she just hoped that this friendship did not lead to another tragedy; she would have to keep an eye on them. She peered curiously at the two individuals that flanked Potter and Black, these two were unexpected individuals, Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones, both were from strong pure-blood families, this Minerva knew would worry Albus for all of Harry's close circle seemed to include very few Gryffindors and no muggle-borns at all. It was highly unlikely that the Longbottom boy would go to Gryffindor and Bones was likely to be a Hufflepuff, Black a Slytherin. Her shrewd gaze locked upon Ronald Weasley who seemed to be a hanger-on to the quartet who were ignoring the redhead.

Ally had watched carefully as Minerva's eyes roved through the crowd of students and saw her gaze linger on herself and Harry for a moment too long, she knew exactly what was going through the older woman's mind as she saw another old friendship being resurrected.

Neville, too was watching Minerva McGonagall's gaze, he noticed how she seemed shocked at the friendship between a Bones, Potter, Black and Longbottom. Neville also noticed that McGonagall was staring at him in shock, evidently she believed like his grandmother that he would be a disaster in school, it quite obviously shocked the older woman that he was perfectly presentable and was not having a nervous breakdown.

Harry shrewdly watched as Professor McGonagall's eyes looked over to a corner where Hermione Granger, (the bushy-haired menace that had previously barged into his compartment to prove how superior she was) and watched as the professor looked honestly shocked by the fact that Granger apparently was having some kind of nervous breakdown. He also noticed that McGonagall looked at Ron Weasley in shock, when she saw how far away he was from Harry, this was something that worried him, and he filed it away into his mind to discuss with Ally later.

Susan Bones unlike the other three was not focusing on McGonagall but rather on the Weasley twins who were sitting at the Gryffindor table and winked at them, letting them know that the plan was starting. Just then the Sorting Hat finished it's rather arrogant song and Susan and the twins watched as Ally discretely flicked her hand at the hat to activate the prank. Ally's magic was the least volatile but the most powerful and this was evident by her ease at using wandless, wordless magic.

Most 11 year-olds did not have enough control over their magic to achieve such feats but Ally was sure that Harry would be able to do basic tricks wandlessly and wordlessly very soon.

So thus the sorting began and it proved to be the beginning of Dumbledore's biggest headache ever, not that he was to know that now.

"Abbott, Hannah."

The hat seemed uncertain for a moment before yelling out to the shock of everyone in the hall, "Jaune."

Everyone in the Hall stood still for a moment before Cedric Diggory stood up and called out, "I believe jaune, is French for yellow, so Hannah is a Hufflepuff."

At this Hannah quickly scuttled off to the Hufflepuff table, but the next name that was called was unexpected, and Ally had to hide a chuckle, oh yes, this was going to be a costly mistake for Albus Dumbledore.

"Bones, Susan."

Susan shot a look at Ally who merely shrugged, Susan took this to mean that she should get sorted, so squaring her shoulders she approached the stool and plopped down.

"Ah, Susan Bones, I see that you are one of the delightful individuals that helped place this charm on me. Very sneaky, perhaps the house of the snakes is the best for you?"

Susan growled, "If you put me in Slytherin I will feed you to a dragon."

"Okay, so I guess Slytherin is out. You would do well in Ravenclaw, you have good research abilities, but I find that perhaps you will not thrive there. Hufflepuff is definitely not for you unlike your ancestors, your loyalty is earnt not freely given, perhaps wise for agirl who lost her parents in the last war. I haven't seen anyone this cynical, well, since Severus Snape. Well then better be ROUGE…" The last word was shouted out.

Susan happily got up off the stool and skipped over to sit at the Gryffindor table where the Weasley twins moved up to let her sit down.

At the staff table Albus Dumbledore was fuming, how did a Bones get into Gryffindor, that hasn't happened in generations? However, he contented himself with the belief that Harry's best friends would be Ron who had been paid by him to report Harry's trials and tribulations.

"Boot, Terry."

"Bleu."

Terry rushed off to sit with the Ravenclaws, Mandy Brocklehurst joining him moments later.

"Brown, Lavender."

"Rouge."

Susan had to stifle a grimace, this was bad, Lavender Brown was a pureblood but was an absolute airhead, and she really did not want to be sharing a dormitory with her for the next seven years. Lavender did not endear herself to Susan given the two girl's alternative views on life.

"Bulstrode, Millicent."

Susan whispered to the twins, "She's definitely a Slytherin, but I pity the man who has to marry her, she's massive."

Fred and George groaned at the mental image but were distracted by the cry of "Vert." Millicent Bulstrode had just become the first Slytherin of the year.

"Corner, Michael."

"Bleu."

"Crabbe, Vincent."

"Vert."

Susan privately thought that Crabbe probably should have belonged to Hufflepuff given that he was loyal to Malfoy, then again to be in Hufflepuff one had to work hard. It was evident that Crabbe had no brain cells and no desire to work hard or at all for that matter.

"Davis, Tracey."

Susan did not know Tracey as well as Ally did but the two were friendly.

"Bleu."

Susan was surprised, she knew that Ally had a plan but she had not realised how deep it was, it was evident that Tracey too had threatened the hat, given the Hat's rather panicked declaration of the house.

"Finch-Fletchley, Justin."

Susan watched intrigued, this was the first muggle-born of their year.

"Jaune."

"Finnigan, Seamus."

The young man in question sat on the stool for the longest of anyone yet, barring Susan, before finally, "Rouge."

Susan ignored Seamus' arrival at the table in favour of watching the next sorting which happened to be Antony Goldstein who was placed in Ravenclaw before Gregory Goyle joined Slytherin. However, it was the third sorting after Seamus Finnigan was sorted that really interested Susan, it was the one for Hermione Granger.

"Granger, Hermione."

The unsorted first-years watched as Hermione burst from their midst and eagerly jammed the hat on her head.

"Ah, Hermione Granger, a muggle-born. Where to put you? You have a good brain but Ravenclaw would not like you, you do not care much for others learning but merely your own, so no Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are not for you. Hufflepuff because you have no loyalty to anyone. You have no bravery and not a single bone in your body is noble. So better be V-"

The hat was cut off by Hermione who fiercely muttered, "If you don't put me in Gryffindor I will force you to eat dragon dung."

The Sorting Hat sighed, what was this year's issue with dragons, before, "Very well, I suppose Slytherin House would want to kill a Mudblood witch like you, better be… Rouge!"

Susan couldn't help but sigh, looks like once again there was going to be an individual in Gryffindor that went there simply because they didn't fit in elsewhere, her eyes caught Ally's and the younger girl merely shrugged. Susan knew that her cousin must have noticed that Hermione's sorting had not been as convincing given the fact that the hat had half-heartedly announced her house.

"Greengrass, Daphne."

Before going to sit on the stool, Daphne cast a look at Ally who smiled slightly in response.

"Ah, Miss Daphne Greengrass. It has been a while since I have sorted one from your family. Your cousin was most interesting; you however are easier to sort. Whilst you have cunning, your intelligence would better serve you in… BLEU. Good Luck, Daphne Greengrass."

Daphne elegantly got up and placed herself next to her cousin at the Ravenclaw table, pausing only to wink at Susan.

"Jones, Megan."

Megan was the last of the three cousins to be sorted, but her task was far different to the other two, she was good friends with Cedric Diggory, so her mission from Ally had been simple, she was to go to Hufflepuff.

"Interesting, you are the middle cousin, yet unlike the others you are different. So I will not even bother to ask you where you wish to go as it is evident that your loyalty is fixed. It will serve you well in…JAUNE!"

Megan smiled triumphantly before joining Cedric at the Hufflepuff table; the attractive blond moved up and placed an arm around her. Susan was interested to notice that a pretty Asian girl was glaring at Megan and Cedric.

Susan watched along with Fred, George, Tracey, Daphne and Megan as Neville was called up.

"Longbottom, Neville."

Neville slipped onto the stool.

"Ah, Neville Longbottom you are certainly an interesting person. You have cunning and wit, daring and loyalty, however, you belong in a house where you can prove your grandmother wrong and help your friends, for that reason alone your bravery must be immense, for it is a hard path. I see you will do well in… ROUGE."

Neville got off the rather uncomfortable wooden stool and passed off the hat to MacDougal, Morag. Susan moved up to allow Neville to slip in beside her.

"It's going well, isn't it," Susan muttered to Neville.

"You know that Ally is thorough in her plans, she did well. In one year she will have managed to move students around just enough to cause a revolution. This is of course a plan that will not come into fruition for many years, but that perhaps is the beauty of it."

They had missed Morag's sorting but tuned in for Draco's. Susan and Neville knew that there was only one place the blond ponce was going and sure enough, "Vert."

There weren't too many people left; Lily Moon was put into Slytherin. Pansy Parkinson joined her as did Theodore Nott.

Then "Patil, Padma."

One of the dark haired twins stepped forward.

"Bleu."

"Patil, Parvarti."

"Rouge."

Susan moaned as Neville laughed, Lavender Brown had squealed really loudly when her friend came and joined them at the table of the lions.

"Perks, Sally-Anne."

"Jaune."

Then finally, "Potter, Harry."

Immediately the Hall was filled with murmurings whilst Harry slowly made his way over to the stool.

"Ah, Mr Harry Potter. Difficult, incredibly so. You have plenty of courage, not a bad mind, a reasonable amount of loyalty and well yes, cunning to avoid telling anyone of your knowledge that your betrothed gave you.

I see that your disgust for the house of the snakes will put you out of the running there, a shame, you could have been great. I see that you are content to stay in the shadows as your betrothed's side-kick, she will not let you do so, but perhaps it is prudent for you to learn your abilities before you charge in.

Very well, good luck in…ROUGE."

Harry heaved a great sigh of relief; he didn't even need to threaten the bloody hat in the end. As he got up he was aware of the Weasley twins dancing about before being pulled down by Susan and Neville. Laughing he went and sat down next to them, diagonally opposite a ghost wearing a ruff.

The sorting thankfully was almost over.

"Smith, Zacharias."

"Jaune."

"Arrogant prick," Neville muttered under his breath remembering his few encounters with the Hufflepuff.

Dean Thomas, a Muggle-born joined them at Gryffindor whilst Lisa Turpin was sorted into Ravenclaw.

It was then Ron's turn, Susan could tell that he had turned pale green, she knew it was bad to wish that he ended up in a different house but she had a feeling that she would end up with him anyway.

Sure enough after some arguing Ron Weasley became Gryffindor much to his twin brothers' disgust, not to mention Harry's, Susan's and Neville's.

There were now only two individuals left, Blaise Zabini and Ally Black.

"Zabini, Blaise."

Blaise turned to face the girl that he had promised to his mother to protect and Ally smiled before pushing him forward muttering so that only he could hear.

"I'll be fine, Blaise, go."

"Are you sure," the black haired boy looked at her worriedly.

"I'll be okay, Blaise, go do your parents proud," Ally pushed him forward.

Albus Dumbledore watched as Blaise sat down, his eyes lingered on the last child to be sorted, she stared back defiantly and he groaned.

"BLEU."

The sorting hat sent Blaise to Ravenclaw and he grinned in relief.

Minerva McGonagall had not noticed the last unsorted first year, she had read everyone off her list, so began packing away the stool, when she was interrupted by a cough.

"Ahem, it seems that you have forgotten to put my name on your list, Professor."

McGonagall turned to face the girl who had spoken and groaned, she remembered Albus saying that Alexandra Black would not be coming to Hogwarts and had completely forgotten the discussion when she had seen the girl earlier.

"My apologies," Albus Dumbledore broke into the conversation.

"Indeed Professor, I hope it shall not be a common occurrence, after all I do not wish to spend my time chasing you around to fix problems that should not exist. I am my own person, you and your staff shall treat me as such or you might just find yourself in front of the Wizengamot, after all if a child of a Death Eater can come to Hogwarts without a problem then so can I. Is that clear?"

The students and staff of Hogwarts found themselves for the first time seeing Albus Dumbledore out of his depth, "O-o-of course, Miss Black, Minerva please."

Ally waited for a minute and then.

"Black, Alexandra."

Ally quickly walked forward before sitting elegantly down on the stool allowing the patched and frayed hat to perch atop her head.

"Interesting, you have better Occlumency shields than anyone else I have met including the Headmaster. Brilliantly executed prank, Miss Black, I would applaud you if I had hands. I find myself at cross-roads Miss Black; you are the daughter of grey, light and dark mix in your blood, Emrys and Le Fay. McKinnon and Black. Dead and Alive. You know much Miss Black and you will change the world, of that I have no doubt.

You have fate's mark upon you, not visible as you well know but you are the 700th, Miss Black, very powerful magic is for you to enjoy, you have the power and the knowledge, yet you do not seek it, merely use it. You do not try to subvert what must happen and for that I commend your bravery.

The founders truly would have fought to teach you all that they know, so it is perhaps best that you intend to be brave in your task, yet I cannot in good conscience put you into Godric's house-"

Ally cut him off, "Gideon, you know better than anyone what my task is. However, if you choose to be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand then I'm afraid that I may accidentally portkey you to Azkaban to sit atop darling Bellatrix's head."

The hat gave a shiver and yelled out, "ROUGE!"

Ally gave a self-satisfied smirk and turned towards Dumbledore giving him a smug grin before waving her hand discretely once again at the Hat as she took a seat opposite the ghost of Gryffindor.

"Welcome, heirs of mischief," the Sorting Hat proclaimed, the spell that had been placed on him had lifted.

Susan was nominated to quickly see the reactions of the staff, Aurora Sinistra and Septima Vector appeared to be laughing whilst Alexis Martin, the Ancient Runes Professor was hiding her mirth behind one hand. These were the three youngest Professors in the school and as such perhaps much more willing to convert to their cause if approached. The other staff appeared to be grimacing or at least scowling.

Albus Dumbledore stood up at the Head Table, "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, now I know all children seldom listen when faced by an empty stomach so eat up!"

Ally watched intrigued as the food appeared, this wasn't what interested her, no she was looking at the way Hermione Granger had sought out another glory hound, Percy Weasley, 5th year Gryffindor Prefect and was now discussing the merits of transfiguration. She watched as Seamus regaled them all with tales of his half-blood upbringing.

Ally soon found herself conversing with Sir Nicholas, more commonly known as Nearly Headless Nick.

"So how was your summer, Nick?"

"Terrible, my quest to join the Headless Hunt has once more been rejected, young Miss Black."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Ally responded, as she hid her wry grin behind her goblet as she took a sip from the pumpkin juice within.

Nick looked mollified before engaging Harry in a conversation about how badly Gryffindor house had done the past few years in the tournaments.

Ally tuned back into the conversation when she heard Hermione ask in a shrill voice, "Nearly Headless? How can you be Nearly Headless?"

Ally face-palmed before pushing her treacle tart away from her, seeing her do this, Harry, Neville and Susan did the same just in time for Nick to grip irritably at his left ear and pull. Hermione gagged as Nick floated away.

Soon the last of the dinner morsels and deserts were cleared away and Dumbledore stood.

"Well, now that you've been fed and watered, it is my duty to inform you of the rules," and off he went, pausing for dramatic impact every now and then. Ally only retuned when the school song began.

Then they were sent off to bed once the Weasley twins had finished singing their slow funeral-march rendition of the school song. The Gryffindors encountered Peeves, the resident poltergeist as they neared their common room outside a portrait depicting a rather large woman wearing billowing pink robes. Percy the Prefect attempted to dissuade Peeves, which was rather costly as Peeves dropped an entire case of walking sticks on Hermione Granger's head and then zoomed off cackling.

After Percy unsuccessfully tried to comfort Hermione he appeared rather ruffled and as he had already alienated the other prefects, had to continue the tour.

"Right the password is Fortuna Major."

At the last words the portrait swung open revealing the Gryffindor Common Room, the room was cosy, decorated in a mixture of gold and scarlet. The armchairs looked inviting, there were tables of all description, and a fire was burning in all the fireplaces, it felt like home.

Susan leaned in towards Ally whispering, "We're screwed, Lavender's brain is like a bloody sieve, she is never going to remember the passwords."

Ally groaned; she knew that Susan's analysis was correct, "Well at least we don't have to deal with the terrible trio alone; I mean Granger is going to keep to herself, whilst the make-up twins will deal with one another."

After bidding the boys goodnight Ally and Susan were the first into the dorms and as a result could choose where they wanted to sleep. There were five four-poster beds, so Ally and Susan chose two next to each other, closest to the bathroom, windows with lavish window seats for two and the door. Before they knew it the two were asleep forcing the other three girls to get the least desirable beds.

Ally smiled in her sleep, bring it on Dumbledore, she thought as she surrendered completely to Morpheus' grasp.

Across the castle protected by a stone gargoyle was the Headmaster's office, the old man was pacing irritably. Ally Black was an unforeseen problem, she was powerful both politically and evidently magically, and her talents would have to be used. He would befriend the girl and force her to give him her powers; it was for the "Greater Good."


	9. Year 1- The Potions' Master

**Disclaimer: WAAA! I don't own Harry Potter or the Franchise just the storyline, and my OCs.**

**A/N: Here's the next chapter guys, sorry for the late update but real life got in the way.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers:**

**rb2312- I'm glad that you like my story so far. It's good to know that you like the premise of the fanfic, yeah Ally really is going to bring Harry out of his shell, but it'll be slow going. As for the house shuffling, I thought that for her plans to work it would be beneficial for it to be different from canon. The gold-digger Hermione is something that a lot of people have commented on, we'll just have to wait and see what happens. As for the revealing of their blood status to her, I'm not sure if that's going to be anytime soon, but we'll see. I'm looking forward to the Sirius-Ally relationship too, and she does know he's innocent but she can't do anything about it yet. Keep reading!**

**Blue Luver5000- thanks for the review**

**Neverlookingbackfromlife- thank you, thank you very much**

**Grace Furey- thank you for your kind words, I'm glad that you hold this in such high regard, we will be deviating from canon sometime soon a bit more. So I hope that this is up to your expectation.**

**fanqueen08love- well the characters are similar to Reality but it is different in the respect that it is an AU of the AU of Pup and Fawn. I hope you keep reading both.**

**Blitzstrahl- Harry is only the heir of one founder, but he is distantly related to them all, and the multimagus thing along with the heir will not play a big role at all, at least not any time soon.**

**articwolf12- I know I almost feel sorry for him as well, well kind of, I think he deserves everything that Ally doles out to him. Keep reading and reviewing.**

**Grazielly- here's the next one**

**Pennyiswise- Yeah, I feel sorry for the hat, but they needed to convince him because otherwise Ally's plans will go awry.**

**iDrinkCoffee- Yeah, I know this isn't really Harry Centric but it will have more from him in the future including his POV. His powers aren't unblocked yet, it'll be slow going on that front**

**dream lighting-Yes, the Headmaster will get what's coming to him, watch this space **

**ANYWAY, long A/N sorry guys, on with the actual chapter now... OH WAIT DON'T FORGET TO READ AND REVIEW oh and vote on the Ginny Poll on my profile.**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 8- The Potions Master: <span>**

It soon became obvious to the Gryffindor Quartet that they were never going to get a moment's peace for the first few weeks at Hogwarts; it was evident that Harry was a hot, new commodity and Ally was someone that everyone stared at for reasons still unknown to Harry.

Another issue that the four had worked out was Ronald Weasley, no matter how many different ways Harry tried to get rid of him, the redhead stuck to him like a limpet. Percy Weasley was also extremely insufferable to the point that Susan begged her cousin to allow her to jinx him. The Weasley twins were another matter entirely; the quartet actually found them amusing and gave them ideas about how to pull off pranks.

It was by the fifth day that all of the four managed to get down to the Great Hall by themselves without getting lost, it was at this point that Ally made a suggestion make a magical map to help them get to lessons on time. This seemed like a good idea so thus began the map of the heirs. Ally volunteered to look up the spells required to be cast for the map to function well.

On the very first day of lessons the quartet had had the unfortunate luck of managing to run afoul of Argus Filch, the caretaker and his flea-bitten cat, Mrs Norris. There was a Hogwarts' legend that Mrs Norris used to be Filch's wife but was turned into a cat which is why Filch was in a constantly bad mood. The four had managed to take a wrong turn on their way to Transfiguration and ended up on the forbidden third floor corridor but were rescued from threats of expulsion by Ally's cousin, Professor Sinistra.

"You should really be more careful, Ally," Aurora had told her younger cousin, "Filch is known to be an absolute holy terror around here; I won't always be around to save you."

Ally had smiled before replying, "Well I have no intention of being caught by him, Rory, and I can assure you neither do my friends. The last thing we need is extra scrutiny."

"How's Melody," Aurora asked, even though there was no love lost between the two older witches.

Ally had sighed, "She somehow passed Healer training, I expect to get a letter any day though declaring her dead given how much she enjoys consorting with Death Eaters in sexual liaisons."

Aurora had sighed, "Well, I suppose that is not entirely unexpected. If she gets herself killed, it won't be your fault, Ally. Also, just don't get caught, alright?

Ally I think you perhaps have noticed by now that Vector and Martin are open to conversion so keep an eyes on them.

Oh, and Dumbledore has no idea of our relationship so all of you keep it under wraps unless it's really needed." Once she had extracted the promise from them she had led them to Transfiguration, getting them there just before the bell rang.

Ally knew better than anyone that the relationship between the two girls had to be kept a secret until it was really needed, to that end they were to act like she was any other teacher.

Professor McGonagall, was indeed a stern witch when she was teaching, she had established her capabilities in the very first lesson. Ron Weasley and his friends, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas who also shared a dorm with him had been 10 minutes late to the lesson. Upon entering the classroom the boys had noticed much to their relief that although they were the last to arrive that Professor McGonagall had yet to show up.

"Oh great, we managed to get here before old McGonagall," Weasley panted much to the disgust of Hermione Granger and Lisa Turpin who were sitting at the desk that Weasley was panting over.

"I'd be careful about what you say Mr Weasley," Neville commented.

"Why's that, squib," Ron sneered rudely at this, virtually spitting the last word out.

Ally glowered at the slight to her friend, "I suggest that you listen to Neville, Mr Weasley, whilst not calling him names. This is a school of magic, I highly think that all is not as it seems."

Ron turned radish red, his cheeks and ears matching the shade of his hair; he pulled out his wand and aimed it at Ally's head.

"Mr Weasley, you are late," the tabby cat that had been sitting at Ally and Neville's shared desk suddenly transformed into the visage of their Head of House, Minerva McGonagall.

The class gasped, whilst they had not believed that Professor McGonagall had not been in the class they had enough sense not to pull wands on one another or insult their absent professor. Ron Weasley had managed to do both in under a minute that had to be some kind of record.

"But, we got lost Professor," Seamus piped up.

"Well then perhaps I should transfigure yourself or Mr Thomas into a map, Mr Finnigan. Oh and Weasley, 15 points from Gryffindor for taunting a fellow house-mate and threatening another. Now take a seat," McGonagall snapped.

The three boys slunk off to the back of the classroom. McGonagall then walked over to the front of the class and began her speech.

"Of all the branches of magic that you will learn at Hogwarts, Transfiguration is one of the hardest to master. Taking one object and changing it into another, like so," this being said she flicked her wand at the table and changed it into a pig and then back again.

The class was excited but deflated somewhat when they learnt that they would not be learning anything nearly as complicated until much later on. Instead they'd start off by changing matches into needles.

They began to cast soon after and all manner of problems began arising. Neville for one found this branch of magic sufficiently hard, Susan was not faring much better and Harry appeared to be holding back. Ally on the other hand had waved her wand over the match and muttered the spell transforming it into a perfect needle with a hole at the end. McGonagall did not seem to notice she was too busy berating Weasley and Thomas for somehow managing to set their matches on fire with their spell. Thomas was hiding a grin as met Ally's eyes.

Ally then turned her attention to help the others, starting with Harry. "Okay, Potter, cast the spell." At Ally's hard glare Harry withered before casting the spell perfectly, the needle that appeared was slightly off from perfect as its eye was still too small.

Eventually Susan and then Neville managed it although the latter only managed to make the needle go pointy and silver, whilst Susan had everything but the eye. Hermione Granger had been looking exceedingly smug when McGonagall began her rounds and awarded her five points to Gryffindor for managing to turn her match pointy. However, when the professor went over to the quartet the smug smile disappeared for McGonagall awarded between the four 25 house points after exclaiming that she had only ever seen one other student manage what Ally had done and had ever had so many people manage partial transformations. Ally had to smile inwardly as she noticed that the Professor  
>had not mentioned the name of the previous student who had managed this feat, she had a feeling it was her father.<p>

The Ravenclaws too did not look too happy by this revelation, especially when McGonagall told them that they were not going to be able to pass this class with just a book. Hermione Granger seemed to be close to having a breakdown upon hearing this.

Charms too was interesting, Professor Flitwick was as bouncy and energetic as McGonagall was stern and cold. Flitwick was most definitely the smallest member of the Hogwarts faculty, he was part-goblin, or so the rumour mill suggested. When he reached Ally's name in the register he gave a small squeak of fright and paled, but when Ally gently smiled he relaxed. Of course when Harry's name appeared on the register the squeak he emitted was one of excitement and fell clear off the pile of books he was using to see over his desk. Ally had had to rush forward to help him back up.

Charms was one of the easier subjects, it was not as exact as Transfiguration, resultantly all four excelled at it. Ron Weasley however, had the uncanny ability to make all teachers despise him; he lacked talent and paired this with sheer laziness, Ally could be heard commenting to her friends that this was winning combination of skills. This ability was so great that even the kindly Professor Flitwick despaired.

"Mr Weasley it is not hard to do this, this charm is simple." The professor had been heard bemoaning to the redhead who just shrugged.

Astronomy lessons took place Wednesday nights at midnight for Gryffindors and Ravenclaws. Aurora Sinistra though young was a hard task-mistress. Ally found the class to be boring and easy, as much as she worried previously about her lack of understanding of the subject she was very good. The class focused on learning the names of the stars and the movement of planets and their significance, it was soon obvious that Ally was very good at this; unfortunately in the other class Draco Malfoy too was good at this subject. Ally suspected it had to do with their Black inheritance.

Neville truly was at home in Herbology lessons which were taught out in the grounds by a dumpy witch named Professor Sprout. Ally had no love for the subject, she found it extremely dull mainly centred on potting and re-potting different plants, the subject however was almost second nature for her. As she had been trained as a Healer the plant care came to her quite naturally. Susan and Harry were not nearly as good as their friends, so were almost always paired by one of the other two.

However, Susan's calling was History of Magic. This was easily the most boring subject in the Hogwarts curriculum. It was taught by Professor Binns, it was the only lesson taught by a ghost.

Binns had been very old when he died but never left his post as Professor. He droned on and on about goblin rebellions, seldom focussing on anything else. Ally had been to one lesson and then refused to attend any more. Instead she spent the time in the library doing work on other more obscure branches of magic that Hogwarts no longer taught.

Susan who apart from Hermione was the only one to be able to stay awake in the class was the designated note-taker much to her ire. She eventually gave in to using a dicta-quill so she could get all the notes down, for Harry and Neville found it incredibly hard to stay awake in Binns' lessons.

"Honestly that subject is a waste of time," Ally had snapped when Granger had decided to give her a speech on the importance of attending all her lessons.

"It is not," the bush-haired girl had retorted, this was apparently too much for Ally's generally good self-control for she had managed to lose control of her power and had set Hermione's hair on fire. Harry had quickly doused it with water from a nearby pitcher but it had caused a fair amount of chaos.

Ally was comforted by the fact that Madame Pomfrey could not regrow Granger's hair as the fire had singed too much so Hermione had to wait for it to grow back the Muggle way much to her dismay.

Blaise and Daphne had come to visit Ally shortly after and thank her for it had at least temporarily stopped her from stalking Blaise.

Whilst the others were in History, Ally self-taught herself with the help of some portraits Alchemy a class taught only to 6th and 7th years and had not been taught for a significant number of years. The unfortunate consequence was that she had to spend copious amounts of time with the unpleasant portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black. Phineas was Ally's ancestor so was at least half-way decent to her but he was a snarky old so-and-so, which Ally had no problems telling him.

The class that everyone had been looking forward to was Defence against the Dark Arts, which was taught by a teacher that Harry had apparently met at the Leaky Cauldron before he had been dragged off by Ally, Qurinus Quirrell. Quirrell had a very peculiar purple turban on which seemed to smell like garlic. The Hogwarts' rumour mill of course went into overdrive claiming that it was to ward off vampires that he had come across, the same reason was used to explain his stutter. Ally personally thought that this was absolute dragon's dung, there was no way that turban contained garlic and so did not ward of anything but people with its repugnant stench.

Much to their disappointment, especially Harry given that this swiftly became his best subject, Quirrell was a terrible teacher. He stuttered so much that it was often hard to distinguish what he muttered about, he seemed more afraid of what he was teaching than the students were. Ally was also good at the subject but after the first couple of lessons merely started boycotting the lessons, claiming that she had a better chance of surviving on her own against the Dark Arts than with what Quirrell was teaching them. Susan and Neville personally agreed but they did not have the nerve to try and skip lessons, Ally got away with it because neither of the teachers ever reported her absence, that and she always turned in homework that she was never there to receive and turned up on test days and did better than almost anyone else.

One lesson that Ally did not try to miss was Potions. The Hogwarts' Potions Master was Severus Snape. His lessons were always double periods, the first thing on Friday morning. As such the first Friday of term was a very important day for the Gryffindors, for this was a lesson that they shared with the Slytherins.

"I'm looking forward to Potions," Harry admitted as he looked at his timetable.

Neville grimaced, "I'm not I'm a disaster in the lab."

"You're not that bad, besides if you sit near Als, she'll help you out," Susan commented.

Ally had yet to arrive that morning which was odd given that she was always the first one up. Just then she rushed in and quickly plopped down on the bench next to Susan, opposite of Neville and Harry.

"Sorry I'm late; I had to send Artemis with a letter Mel, thought that would let her know that I'm still alive. Although, I doubt that she'll actually care too much she's probably too busy having sex with her flame of the week, Evan Travers. So anyway what did I miss?"

Neville sighed, "She's still going through that phase?"

"I honestly don't think it's a phase, but there's nothing that I can do about it, for it is part of the Grand Design," Ally sighed.

"The Grand Design," Harry questioned.

"Let's just say that Ally has a lot of power and is marked by the powers-that-be, so she can tell certain things have to be left to run their course," Neville explained.

"It must be important if you are not interfering," Susan commented.

"It is important, so I must leave well enough alone."

"How does your power work," Harry asked the girl.

"It's complicated and you perhaps will need to learn a bit more before you'll understand it," Ally responded not unkindly.

"We still don't understand it," Neville complained.

"Anyway, what did I miss," Ally asked, blushing; she was embarrassed by the conversation.

"Harry has decided that Potions is going to be great fun," Susan groused looking horrified at the thought.

"Harry, Potions may be great fun but Snape is going to hate the two of us on principal, he hated our fathers, and he's not going to let that go. His hatred for me will be stronger so I'll try to deflect some of the attention but please be careful," Ally beseeched her friend.

"That and Snape is the Slytherin Head of House, we can't be late to the dungeons as he favours them and hates us," Susan added.

"Wish McGonagall favoured us," Harry replied sighing.

Ally laughed, "Not a chance, let's move, better be early than late. Weasley and his cronies are going to be late anyway losing us countless points and Granger is a nightmare enough so let's get there before she has any chance to tag along."

The quartet left the Great Hall in one swoop, avoiding a collision with Draco Malfoy who was just entering.

Neville turned to face Ally before commenting, "Oh yeah we've been invited to Hagrid's for tea."

Ally grimaced much to Harry's shock, "What's wrong with Hagrid?"

Susan giggled, "Ally once nearly got bitten by a werewolf cub he brought to St. Mungo's, and she's never really been that fond of him since."

"Okay, that's not the only reason to be wary of him; he's a great guy, a little naïve. But he can't keep a secret to save his life and his loyalty to Dumbledore is slightly bordering Voldemort's relationship with his followers, most specifically Bella. I just worry, he is a simple man but is Dumbledore's man through and through."

Neville snorted, "Dear Merlin, you are beginning to sound like my uncle."

"Well, he's still alive and kicking isn't he," Ally challenged.

"She's got you there, Nev," Susan told him as they walked down towards the dungeons.

"Well, if she carries on she'll end up like Mad-eye Moody," Neville retorted, only to get hit upside the head by Susan.

"Well, it may not be a bad thing to be like Alastor."

Neville rolled his eyes, he knew that she had a point but ignored it. Susan sighed at the age old argument between the two before explaining to Harry about Moody.

By the time the Slytherins turned up the quartet on the urging of Ally had re-read the Potion's book so that if they were asked any questions then they would be able to answer it without any problems.

Neville knew that he was a disaster with Potions so they knew that something would have to be done about it, it was decided that for the day Ally would work with him so that the Potion would not fail. Susan and Harry chose to work together.

Severus Snape was like Ally, Gred and Forge had discovered, an overgrown greasy bat, and even Neville had to endorse this view. He was the head of Slytherin house and wore a lot of black, his entrance to the lab was terrifying to say the least, and he started by billowing into the classroom and glaring at all the students until they took their seats and brought out their equipment. Snape then started on a rant about how he could teach them to brew glory and even put a stopper in death, Ally nearly burst a gut when he told them that that was only possible if they weren't the dunderheads that he usually taught.

Hermione Granger for one looked as though she had swallowed a lemon and was keen to show that _she _at least was not an idiot. The quartet nearly laughed at the arrogant expression that Ron Weasley wore which was mirrored on Malfoy's face. Neither of the boys' could claim that they were good in their lessons, Ron more than Draco was an absolute disaster (Draco at least excelled in Astronomy) and the Hogwarts' rumour mill had vilified both although they remained oblivious.

"Ah, Alexandra Black, you seemed arrogant enough to taunt and disrespect the Headmaster at the Sorting. Let's see what you know about the fine art of Potion making. What would I get if I mixed the powdered root of asphodel with an infusion of wormwood?" Professor Snape sneered at the young redhead, refusing to meet her eyes.

Ally didn't even hesitate, "they are two of the ingredients that when mixed with the correct binding agents produce a sleeping draught that is so powerful that it is known as the Draught of Living Death."

Ally watched in amusement as Hermione Granger's eyes widened in shock, this was a question that no first year including her could answer yet here was this awful Muggle-born who could. Hermione Granger resolved from that moment on that she resented Ally Black and would do anything to beat her in any way necessary. Draco and Ron were miming goldfish as they stared at Ally and Professor Snape looked like he had swallowed a lemon whole.

Snape sneered and Ally flashed him a grin, "Was I wrong Professor," she smiled angelically.

"No, you were adequate in your response. I ask another question where may I find a bezoar?"

Ally gave a small smile, "The stomach of a goat which is formed by the growth of the sediment of knotgrass, it is a small dark brown stone which can cure most poisons. The most common place for a Potions' Master or Mistress is an Apothecary."

Snape shot back, "What's the difference between monkswood and wolfsbane?"

"Nothing sir, they are the same plant which also goes by the name of aconite, this is most common in the Mundane or Muggle world," Ally almost lost her composure at the shock on Snape's face.

"Ten points to Gryffindor for answering all the questions correctly," Snape had rightly guessed that this girl was more powerful than him on the political stage it would do no good to annoy her, but he continued, "well why aren't you dunderheads writing it down? Five points from Gryffindor and Slytherin for being absolute dunderheads!"

The next hour went quietly and quickly as they were making a simple potion to cure boils, Neville was as expected a disaster but Ally thrice saved his potion from failing completely. Susan and Harry weren't faring as well as Ally who wasn't even following the instructions but was humming as she went about her work with practiced ease but the two of them were doing well. Hermione Granger on the other hand was becoming increasingly frustrated as she watched Black complacently move about her work occasionally helping Longbottom out. It wasn't fair.

Across the dungeons Snape was watching a pair not very carefully which was unusual for him, Weasley and Draco had been forced to pair up and their potion looked like it was two seconds away from disaster but Severus did nothing as he was too busy watching the practiced and elegant movements of Ally Black. While he was watching her movements he failed to notice Weasley's and Malfoy's petty argument become volatile with both throwing the wrong ingredients into the potion causing it to erupt and hit Snape.

"Weasley detention and thirty points from Gryffindor," Snape yelled, the young man in question protested.

"But sir, Malfoy was working here too."

"Sixty points and three weeks of detention, do you want to make it four? Potter, Black help them clean up."

Ron Weasley appeared to have a brain as he quit protesting and Malfoy smirked. Ally on the other hand was more worried about what the Potion's effects were, if she wasn't mistaken and she didn't think she was; this was bad.

"Professor," she started timidly, when his eyes met hers she continued, "they added hellbore and knotgrass, before they added the snake fangs, doesn't that make an all-powerful sterility potion, and it hit you…" Ally trailed off as she saw the horrified expression on the teacher's face.

"A-a-all of you out, thirty points to Black for pointing out the dangers of a faulty potion," when the class just stared he yelled, "ALL OF YOU OUT!"

The class scarpered, Malfoy and Weasley looking panicked, if Ally was correct then they were in a lot of trouble.

The quartet were leaving the class when their path was blocked by Granger.

"How did someone as deprived as you know that," the bushy haired girl asked her least favourite dorm-mate.

"Appearances can be deceiving Granger, and unlike you just because I don't sound like I've swallowed the textbook whole doesn't mean that I don't know things," Ally told her, the others were surprised at her patience with the Muggle-born, given the earlier incident with the hair.

Granger huffed and stormed off but not before glaring over her shoulder at Ally rather petulantly.

"I can't believe that Snape may be sterile," Susan wheezed as she looked over at Neville the corner of whose mouth was twitching.

"That's not a nice thing to make fun of," Ally reprimanded them and the two lost their mirth at once.

The quartet then made their way onto the school grounds successfully avoiding Argus Filch and his flea-bitten cat. Hagrid's hut was on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest; it had a homey feel to it but was rather large in height due to Hagrid's stature. Hagrid was very friendly, this much the quartet knew, after some surreptitious research from the Weasley twins, Ally had found out that the man was loveable but terrible at keeping secrets.

"Awh right, Harry," Hagrid boomed after Ally had knocked twice on the large oak door.

"Fine, Hagrid," Harry replied, Ally had to smile; it looked like Harry was finally coming out of his shell.

Before anymore introductions could be made a large, black boarhound emerged from the hut at full speed jumping atop Ally, knocking her backwards into the soft grass and then licking her. Evidently, he much like Hagrid looked fiercer than he actually was.

"Fang! Get off of her, Miss Black don' need yeh slobberin' all o'er her," Hagrid tried to call the dog back, reluctantly Fang backed off and Ally pushed herself up gracefully, dusting herself off.

"It's Ally, Hagrid, just Ally," she smiled at the giant and the man scrutinised her carefully before smiling back, he had met her before but he had never seen her as anything other than a prisoner's daughter.

Moving back along with the boarhound, Hagrid let the quartet enter his cabin. The furniture was at least thrice as big as any normal sets and the place had a cluttered look to it but it had a roaring fire and was very homey.

"Make yerselves at home, I go' a po' o' tea bein' made, would ye' like some," the friendly giant offered, looking at the two that he had spoken to, "yeh alrigh' there Neville?"

"Fine thanks Hagrid, but would you mind if we had three teas and a Butterbeer for Ally," Neville requested causing Hagrid to laugh deeply.

"Yer jus' like yer mother Ally Black, jus' like Charlie."

"Thank you," Ally smiled knowing that this was meant as a compliment, "You know Amelia Bones, right? Well, this is her niece and my cousin, Susan. Susan this is Hagrid the Keeper of the Keys here at Hogwarts."

"Nice to meet you," Susan mumbled as she took a sip of the tea from the massive mug that Hagrid had set in front of her.

The five of them settled into a lively debate about magical creatures, the four that were drinking the tea in bucket sized mugs were sweating whilst Ally who had evidently gotten the upper-hand with her logical arguments was sipping rather coolly from her large tankard of alcoholic Butterbeer. Hagrid had evidently not realised that he was giving the said beverage to an 11 year-old girl.

Susan and Neville had to hide sniggers when Hagrid called Filch "a miserable ol' git" and his flea-bitten cat "an absolute menace".

"Snape is in a terrible mood," Susan warned the giant, for the two men did not get along at the best of time.

"Wha' hap'nd," the giant asked.

"Malfoy and Weasley created a massive Potions' blunder which may render him infertile," Harry explained, much to Hagrid's amusement.

"Not to be rude or anything," Neville suddenly said, he was looking at the newspaper which was opened to a page about a break in at Gringotts. "But why have you got this article open, Hagrid?"

Ally hid a smile; it was obvious that the training that Neville had undertaken had come into fruition.

There was no doubt about the fact that Hagrid refused to meet Neville's eyes, he was hiding something. But no amount of prodding from Harry, Neville and Susan could get Hagrid to tell them why he was so interested in that article. No one noticed Ally's small smile as she took in the date of the break-in, the uncomfortableness of Hagrid and a brief mental excursion in Hagrid's mind which showed her a small, grubby package taken from a high security vault in Gringotts.

It was quite obvious to Ally that that was what was attempted to be stolen and she had a feeling she knew what it was. The question was, where Albus Dumbledore was hiding it, she would find out; that much was guaranteed.

Meanwhile in his office guarded by a gargoyle and surrounded by portraits of his predecessors, Albus Dumbledore schemed. He needed a way to split up the Black girl from Harry Potter, or his plans would be rendered useless, for she was too clever for her own good.

Little did Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore know that Fate herself was against him, for she would always support her agent, Alexandra Athena Lillian Dorea Andromeda Black. Albus Dumbledore was about to find himself sucked into a tornado, one that was going to be very difficult to overcome and outwit.


	10. Year 1- The Teachers' Meeting

**Disclaimer: Still a poor student, not JKR, sorry, but bright side I do own this story and the OCs.**

**A/N: Sorry to those who read my work, but exam season is almost upon me, so I am revising but at the moment I got a bit of time to write, so here's the next instalment of this.**

**To all those who read and review, thanks they inspire me, thanks, KEEP IT UP!**

**articwolf12- thanks for the review, I thought that the Potions accident would be a good way to see the relationship that Snape has with the kids, I am not sure if he's going to be that good but he will be semi-redeemable.**

**SSGRet- Uh oh, is right, well we'll see what happens to him later on**

**fanqueen08love- thanks and please continue reading both, maybe also try Sins of Us, it's a different take on the HP verse**

**dreamlighting- here's the next chapter, have fun reading it, I'm glad that you like Ally, well Albus has a small role in this chapter, just a mention**

**Penny is wise- well you aren't the only one who feels almost sorry for him, I'm glad that you liked it**

**PurpleBullet- thanks for reading and reviewing, please keep it up**

**oakphoenix- oh of course he's going to suffer, Dumbles is going down, but it's going to be a slow and torturous process **

**Blue Luver5000- well as always thanks for reading and reviewing**

**rb2312- yes, I think canon Hermione is similar, neither can take being wrong, she has to be the best and anyone who beats her is bad. I'm glad that you liked the first week. We'll see what happens with our favourite Potions Master. Fate will be a bitch, she is important as you will see later on**

**jabarber69- thanks for all the reviews, I am trying to keep things interesting. I hope this adds a bit more intrigue to the story**

** -Z2H- I'm glad you liked it, here's the next update**

**GraceFurey- Well, the thing about Ally's mother is going to be discussed more in this chapter. Thanks for the commendations, I am glad that you like it that much**

**ANYWAY THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS, PLEASE LEAVE MORE, GUYS, THANKS!**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9- The Teachers' Meeting:<strong>

At the end of every month the teachers of Hogwarts met up without the Headmaster to officially talk about their new students or any surprises. The month of September tended to be one of the more interesting ones. This was no different for this year.

The first to arrive was Rolanda Hooch, the Hogwarts flying instructor. The next were the three youngest members of the faculty, all three were good friends, Aurora Sinistra came and plopped down next to Hooch and her two friends pulled up chairs next to them. Alexis Martin and Septima Vector much like Aurora did not mind the slightly older woman's company.

There was a reason why Aurora wanted to arrive there early; she needed to see how the other teachers entered so she could give some intelligence to Ally later on. Eventually all the teachers filed in with Binns floating in last of all as per normal, what was strange was Quirell's no-show.

Minerva McGonagall began the meeting by talking about the current Head Boy and Girl and about how well they and the prefects were doing. There appeared to be one major problem that all the teachers had spotted, Percy Weasley was a nightmare of a prefect, he caused more problems than he fixed.

"Something needs to be done about Mr Weasley, Minerva, it's ridiculous he made a first year cry, if it hadn't been for Ally Black, the poor first year may have been put in detention," Alexis' eyes flashed dangerously at Minerva.

"Are you sure it wasn't Ally Black who made the first year cry in the first place," McGonagall commented wryly. This was not uncharacteristic for the Scotswoman when it came to this particular student but it was unusual for the woman in general.

It became obvious to Minerva that she had said something wrong for the normally unflappable Septima Vector seemed to be furious at her comment, "Shame on you Minerva McGonagall, you see her as a miniature Sirius Black. She is not, she's her mother's daughter, not her father's and you know very well I do not mean Charlotte Black, Ally looks nothing like her, or Sirius."

Inwardly, Septima was wincing as she realised just how much knowledge she had inadvertently revealed, she knew that this could be potentially bad.

Filius' eyes widened, "Do you think that she herself knows?"

Severus spoke up, shocking them all, he was notorious for not saying anything until prodded, "She has my respect, Filius, she is perceptive, it occurs to me that she has many talents and I am sure that she is aware that whilst she may have biological connections to Charlotte McKinnon, the woman is not her biological mother. The red hair though a McKinnon trait was only inherited by one woman in our generation, I believe that Ally is her daughter."

Aurora hid a smile before answering, "I believe that Ally is very much her mother's daughter, make of that what you will, but I fear that very few know of her true parentage. It is not my place to tell you my guesses but only time will tell."

Alexis Martin had been awfully quiet, she was not a quiet woman by nature but she was worried about the topic of conversation, she wondered just how much Severus suspected.

"Moving on," Rolanda decided to move the conversation on from the parentage of a student, "there will be a few good Quidditch prospective students this year, I'm sure you all remember how talented James Potter was on a broom?"

"Indeed, he could have been a prodigy, a professional if the war had not interfered," McGonagall commented, even Severus had to grudgingly agree.

"Anyone up for a wager," Pomona spoke up, the Head of the Hufflepuff house had watched the progress thus far before speaking up.

"What sort," no one could mistake the excitement in the Charms Master's voice. No one would guess it but Filius had an eye for gambling. Aurora often thought that his goblin heritage may have had something to do with that.

"On Quidditch of course," Rolanda complained.

"Okay, I place a bet of three galleons that Potter will be on the team in his first year," Septima Vector pushed out the money, "He will be a chaser and Ally Black will be a Seeker and I'll place a bet of 4 galleons on the latter."

Aurora and Alexis put forward the same bet and the others laughed before betting against them including Divination teacher, Sybil Trelawney who claimed that she "saw" that the duo would have no flying talent at all. Of course this prompted all the present staff to bet that the two would be on the team in some form.

After all the bets for the year, the conversation diverted to more important topics. The first was the new First Years.

"Well, what is your opinion on our newest cohort," Alexis asked, after all she wasn't going to be teaching them until 3rd year if at all.

"They have potential," Filius offered.

"They are simply awful, only eight of them regularly get any marks at all in my lessons," Cuthbert Binns lamented.

"That's because most struggle to stay awake in your lessons," Pomona threw back, "it's been that way for many a year. However, I find myself surprised that as many as eight students are capable of doing your assignments; they aren't the most riveting of things. Which eight?"

"Green, Joseph, Zabini and Davie," Binns droned.

"Well three of them are cousins and if I remember correctly Ophelia Greengrass was brilliant at History in her day, I am sure they learnt from her. Zabini is Greengrass' friend, I am sure that he is helped by them. Who else," Filius squeaked, he knew why those four would be good they seemed to be very good friends with one another.

"Dotter, White, Skeleton and Longer," Binns had managed to botch up many names over the years but the staff had become quite adept at interpreting the mistakes.

"Oh well, those four seem to be exceptions to most things," Sprout commented, "it is obvious that Longbottom excels and loves plants whilst Black has no keen interest but is just as gifted, Bones and Potter exceed the average but are not in the same league as the other two."

"Let's put it is layman's terms," Severus suddenly cut in; this was very rare for him so everyone listened to the snarkiest (oops, sneakiest) member of staff's observations.

"The generation to which I belong was one of the most talented generations we have seen in at least centuries, most of us died or were imprisoned. These four are the next generation after us and have the potential to be even better, Greengrass, Davis, Zabini, Jones and Bones were all surprising Sortings' as was Black, but they are the best of the best along with Potter and Longbottom, they are the ones we have to keep an eye on."

"Wow, this must be some kind of record for you, Sevvy," Aurora teased the older teacher, "I mean it must be physically painful for you to admit that your Slytherins are useless in most things and that your oldest enemies' children are among that brightest that we have."

Severus scowled at the blonde who just stuck her tongue out at him.

Septima got the discussion back on topic, "So do you all agree that those eight are the ones to watch out for?"

"Well there is Hermione Granger," Minerva began conceitedly until Aurora interrupted her.

"Miss Granger and it physically pains me to say this is an insufferable know-it-all, as Severus puts it. The girl seems to think that she is superior to everyone; no student wants to work with her because it is so hard to get along with her without wanting to hurt her.

She is intelligent, there is no denying that, Sepy but she is arrogant to the point of rudeness. I have had stop some of my more even-minded and good tempered students from attempting to pitch her off the tower in my lessons. Hell, if I'm being honest, sometimes I myself am tempted to do the same.

If she ever gains a few friends she would be one to watch out for but she is a Muggleborn, one that thinks that she already knows everything about our world when she does not even know the basics, it's a bit worrying, really.

I fear for her future in the Wizarding World, whilst fresh blood is always good and I have no problems with Muggleborns, that girl gives them all a bad name. She is like a supremacist but hers is against those who she thinks are inferior, i.e. not so clever individuals and those without much political power."

"Don't even say it, Minerva," Pomona snapped, "she might be one of your lions but Rory's assessment is correct. The other day she had the audacity to tell the best Herbologist in her year that he was potting his plant wrong, poor Mr Longbottom didn't know what to say. Miss Black told her that if she ever saw Miss Granger say anything like that to her friend again she would make sure that Miss Granger would end up in the hospital wing and no one would be able to prove it was her who hurt Granger."

"See we have to worry about Black," McGonagall was like a dog with a bone.

"For Merlin's sake, Minerva, she's not her father. Granger had told Neville that Weasley was right, that he was a measly squib who had no right to be here in Hogwarts and that no wonder Muggleborns have a bad name. It's a wonder that no one has told her that Neville is Pureblood," Severus was not a patient man but he had heard from Pomona what Granger had said and it had infuriated him.

"What about Weasley," Alexis asked, she had known Bill Weasley very well, he was the same sort of age as her and she was teaching the twins this year.

"He is nothing remarkable, if anything I will compare him rather unflatteringly to two of your snakes, Severus, he is much like Crabbe and Goyle," Pomona commented, "honestly, it is a toss-up in most classes I gather as to which of the three end up at the bottom. All the brains in that family appear to have been used up on the oldest 5 leaving him with nothing."

"That's rather unusual for you to say, Pomona, but I must admit that Mr Weasley has the rather terrible combination of being lazy and a bad temperament," Minerva had to concede defeat on her part about the merits of Ronald Weasley.

"Let's move on to another bet shall we," Sybil spoke up, "10 galleons says that Weasley will be first in his year."

Alexis rolled her eyes, "I think that we shall all take that bet, Sybil."

"Moving on, what of Fluffy," Aurora's tone betrayed her simmering anger; this was shocking in itself for Aurora seldom became angry. "I have no clue what the hell Albus was thinking putting one of those in a corridor full of students."

"I do not presume to think that you or myself are anywhere as clever as Albus, so leave it alone, besides all of the important teachers have also put obstacles, the object will be fine," Minerva's tone and implications left Aurora bristling, she knew all too well which teachers had been asked to protect the thrice-damned object and she had not been one of them.

"Minerva, perhaps it is best if we end this meeting here before Aurora decides that she will introduce you in your cat form to Fluffy," Severus suggested to the Head of Gryffindor house rather wryly, upon seeing Aurora's smile McGonagall paled before dismissing the meeting.

Severus shrewdly watched as Minerva turned on her tail and all but ran from the meeting. Binns and the rest of the teachers followed her out, until only the three youngest members of the faculty were left.

Severus sighed and walked towards them, and gingerly slipped a piece of paper onto the desk and over to Aurora who was the most vocal of the trio, then turning on his heel he spun out of the room. His cloak billowing ominously behind him.

Aurora pulled the note closer to the three:

_I don't know what game you're playing, but I want in ~ Severus Snape._

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><p><span><strong>GIVE ME R-E-V-I-E-W!<strong>


	11. Year 1- The politics of correspondence

**Disclaimer: URG- Don't choke me, I'm not JKR, dodges pitchforks.**

**A/N: I am so sorry to all the readers for the long wait, but I had exams and then I had writers block so this took longer than anticipated. Hopefully this chapter makes up for it!**

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**dream lighting- Let's see what happens to Hermione and Ron, the coming chapters should slightly deal with that. I'm glad you like the Harry-Alex bond, they will eventually be together, just not anytime soon.**

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**rb2312 - The meeting was a bit of a divergence from canon, but I thought it was apt, as were the comments. Hermione won't find out the blood statuses very soon but when she does, yes it will be a bitter pill to swallow, she is so into her books that she cannot even conceive the idea that there are "normal" purebloods around. We'll see about Snape. But enjoy this chapter it reveals a few interesting things.**

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**Without further ado, Lumos...**

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><p><strong><span>Chapter 10- The politics of correspondence:<span>**

Whilst this meeting was going on, Ally was answering her mail, as per normal there was no missive from Melody, as much as Ally loved her cousin, the two weren't especially close. Mel felt that Ally did not relax enough and Ally felt that Mel never made good decisions, deep down everyone who knew the two cousins knew that the younger was right. Melody, of course, hated her cousin for it, and over the years had begun rebelling, to the point where it almost destroyed the friendship. The two only tolerated one another for the sake of being family and from stopping a complete breakdown in relations.

But there was a letter from Narcissa; Ally had had to laugh at the contents, the two were relatively close and corresponded quite often.

My Dearest Cousin, Alexandra,

As I write this letter I find myself wondering about the demerits of inbreeding, it never fails to amaze me as to how horrifyingly stupid the heir of the Malfoy household is. Draco may be my son but to be brutally honest with you, cousin, the boy disgusts me. I find myself worrying for his brain power. That is if he is even capable of breeding, I sincerely worry for the poor girl Lucius finds for him. Although, the Parkinson girl may be an apt match for him. We shall see, I suppose.

Draco is a minuscule version of Lucius, and not the good parts of his father, I assure you. There is no love lost between my husband and I, our marriage is as perhaps you know, just a sham, much like it has always been. We keep our separate quarters and Lucius has his son and heir, so keeps himself busy by trying to make Draco into the man he himself is. That is a truly horrifying thought, I assure you, I know that you are the last person I should be preaching to, yet you are the only family member who I like and feel safe being honest with. Lucius does not have many redeeming qualities, as you probably know just as well as I, Alexandra, but Draco has even fewer- he certainly does not have the charm that Lucius does, which in itself says a lot.

It worries me, Alexandra, it really does. I do not have the political clout to leave Lucius. Since Uncle Arcturus' death in the last spring and your father's incarceration, it does not leave me with much choice but to stay with the pig I call a husband. Politics is everything as you well know, and I am not like Andromeda, a lion in snake's skin- I am not so brave to challenge the status-quo without the power to back me.

I cannot go against him, however, my dearest cousin, unlike Lucius who honestly is an opportunist, you have my unparalleled support. I cannot offer you money, but perhaps cunning and wit. I assure you on my blood as a Black, I will honour you. On the mentioning of the family, Callidora is well, but Cassiopeia is ailing. I fear that she will not last the winter. You are the Healer, cousin but I am fearful.

However, my real reason for this missive was not to pledge myself to you as I have just done, but rather to tell you of an interesting correspondence I have recently received. The correspondence from one Severus Tobias Snape, the illustrious Potions Master at the humble establishment which you are currently attending. You will of course note my sarcasm, my reasons for being derisive of the old coot is fundamentally different from Lucius', but exists just the same.

Severus informs me that you were wise enough to inform him as to the horrible consequences of the potion that my son (and I use the term loosely, I assure you) and the Weasley boy made, that had so unfortunately spilled over him. Severus is furious; cousin, not at you but at his godson and of course Weasley. Your diagnosis of the potion was indeed apt; it did render Severus sterile, the school is incredibly lucky that you noticed such an error before it harmed anyone else, although I am unsure as to whether Draco is capable of siring an heir, as I have previously mentioned.

Severus is furious, he is determined to cut Draco off and as I am sure that the Malfoy fortune will be squandered away by the time he is due to inherit it will certainly be punishment enough for the spoilt brat despite Severus not caring much for his fertility. However, I believe he fears emasculation; you know how sensitive men are.

Weasley has been vouched for by the old coot, I fear for him, really I do. You have an ally in Severus, a good connection to have. I know that Arcturus taught you for years how to deal with politics and he is the reason for your large network of friends, however, I fear that as times become tougher, you will need more friends.

I beseech you, cousin to cousin, give Severus a chance. Weasley, much like his name suggests has weaselled his way out of punishment and forgone the fine associated with ending an ancient line, in this case the line of Prince. Severus unlike most god-fathers has not named Draco his heir. I do not know his reasoning behind this, but I believe that it is perhaps a wise idea to accept it but also keep an eye out for danger that lurks; Severus seldom puts all his eggs into one basket.

As for Draco, well, Severus has decided to punish him with detention for the rest of the year and relegated him to only having two friends for the rest of the year, Crabbe and Goyle. Somehow, I smell "bad faith" had a hand in even choosing these two.

I must leave you here for now, my baby cousin. One last rumour that I have heard recently, Melody is getting awfully close to one whose entrails are found within the Willow, it worries me. However, I thought that perhaps it will be helpful to you.

I remain a Black at heart and soul,

Your cousin, Narcissa Gemma Malfoy (Black)- Toujours Pur

If she was being honest, this missive from her cousin worried her, Ally knew that Draco was a nightmare, but it seemed that he was even worse than she thought. Narcissa gave her a lot to think about, it was time to plan. The cryptic message at the end of the missive about Melody was worrying but Ally was not going to intervene unless it was truly needed, Ally understood it but she really didn't know what she could do in her position.

Hours later as she was lying in bed cuddling with Venus, Ally's phoenix, Artemis turned up. Ally had not seen Artemis or Apollo for a while; she knew that they had been staying with Aurora.

_Hello, daughter of Karma, Lady Fate. I have a message from your mortal cousin, Aurora. _

_Hey, Artemis, it has been many years since anyone has referred to me as the daughter of Time and Karma;_ Ally trilled to her phoenix, there were not many who understood what the significance of her power was, it was very uncommon.

_How are you, my friend?_

_I am well Artemis, do not worry. I am merely pensive as to what the future will bring_; Ally told the majestic bird who trilled once more, _Well I believe in you, you have always done right, good luck, youngling_, before disappearing in a flash, leaving behind the note.

Ally picked it up, before intoning, "I, Alexandra Lilian Dorea Andromeda Black, magically the daughter of Father Time and Lady Karma, also known as Lady Fate do tell you to open."

To my sweet baby cousin,

Today was our end of month teachers' meeting and as expected the topics of conversation were Quidditch and first years. The meetings grow increasingly predictable much to my dismay.

There is specific interest in your parentage; there are mutters of Charlotte not being your biological mother. I am warning you so that you may find out yourself within the next year for I fear that if you don't you will be most ill equipped for the coming years. I know that this is a sore topic but I feel that you must be warned and vigilant.

Qurinus did not appear at our meeting and even Cuthbert acknowledges your intelligence. Something that is truly unprecedented, as you well know.

Weasley, yes, the one in your year has made a terrible impression and has been likened to Crabbe and Goyle, perhaps not wrongly. Nonetheless it is perhaps not so nice to hear of such things.

Tides are changing, battle lines are being drawn. I can see them, baby cousin; I fear that you shall be in the eye of the storm and that I shall only be able to protect you only to a small extent. After all, it is hard to avoid one's destiny, as I am sure you know. I wish that I could do more, but you know better than I that the future has a Fate, as they say.

Severus admits that he is worried, not explicitly but his actions speak louder than his acerbic tones, he has a lot of respect for you. Minerva, is the biggest problem, she is Dumbledore's woman through and through. She deems you your father, I am truly sorry for that, I fear that you shall have no help from that quarter, at least for now, this is most annoying as she is your head of house. She is being most unreasonable for a woman of her status- I fear the consequences of her mulishness.

I shall keep you posted but it seems to me that the package, to which you were referring, is under the enchantments that the old coot told you all to stay away from.

At this point there is very little I can do to help you, my sweet baby cousin. Do not worry too much for Melody, she is not worth any of your tears, she has made her bed. It is time for her to lie in it.

You have allies, my cousin. Septima and Alexis will stand by you that much I am sure of. Severus has respect for you and I believe that that may work in your favour, he is a good man and his support if commandeered would be worth a lot. You are not alone, you never will be.

I remain your cousin and friend,

Aurora Esmeralda Sinistra (Professor of Astronomy)

Dulce Et Decorum Est Pro Familia Mori

Ally had to smile after reading the letter; she could read between the lines of the letter. While the letter was explicit up to a certain point, it implied many things and if she was reading it correctly then things were going as planned.

Pulling out a sheet of parchment, Ally began to pen her letter to Croaker.

Croaker,

It's been a while so I thought that perhaps I should send you a note, so here goes.

The plan is coming into fruition, they do not suspect. There is talk of the egg and dog, he was known to be a player, there are concerns as to which McKinnon was mine. I am fearful of the truth, I know a laughable statement but I do feel that. Perhaps, you will think it a stupid thing to fear, but I was happy with the way that things were, I have my guesses much like others, but nonetheless it will be too soon for me to know. There has always been some doubt given my appearance and my rather interesting abilities but it is just another problem, I have a feeling that Jenna may have been aware of the egg but never shared it with us. I admit my fear willingly but for now it is to be left alone, it is after all for the best.

I am glad in the idea that the object that I mentioned to you in the last of our correspondence is under protection. However, I fear for its safety, there is only so much that I can do. I am not in need of any back-up at this moment in time, but it would be good to note that He has lost more of his marbles than we believed. I have a strong belief that He emphasises the House rivalries for his own gain, there is no point in putting two conflicting Houses in the most dangerous of subjects e.g. Potions, it's just a recipe for disaster. Something that a mind like His should have been able to put together I assure you, but here we are.

There are increasing numbers of problems within the walls of the fortress, people are getting antsy. I fear that there will be no clear cut lines should there be a return of Snake-Face. Bear is of the opinion that we unveil before the emergence of such an event. Justice is hesitant in proposing a plan of action, I must admit that whilst their ideas have merit, a contingency must be in place, we do have some time but I do hope that we do not become too complacent. Although, it is quite obvious that they are becoming complacent, I fear that they may be lost to us all too soon. A contingency for that too must be established; perhaps the Fire and the Weed may be of use to us. I also worry for their reluctance to do what must be done, but perhaps it's for the best that they are not capable of what I am.

The curriculum here is decent but leaves much to be desired, I fear that is also the old coot's doing. There is a lack of History being taught and the curse is still functioning, apparently it is too much to ask for a decent professor, anyway. We have settled in well, but I believe that the greasy bat may come around to our way of thinking.

The war lines are being drawn, even at this early an hour, I fear that Time, is of the essence, we cannot prolong it forever. Tabby is the old coot's loyal servant, I fear that we shall have no or very little help from her, she deems me the Dog. It is not new; however, it is highly worrying, perhaps she will be open to others, but certainly not to me.

I shall take Star's advice and find out within the next few years the name of the egg. It is imperative for in the heart of a battle who knows what might be discovered, it cannot be risked. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavours.

I send you regards from Star, Bear and Justice. There needs to be an induction of sorts after a while of the Bolting One. I also ask for permission to tell the Bolting One about the Inheritance test in more detail. I mean it was confusing, one of these days I shall have to tell him, until then, I must be vigilant. If he does ask me about it, I shall of course be forthcoming if he does not, let him be naïve for a few more moons.

Hoping that you are still alive and kicking, give my best to the one that always cares.

With affection,

Phoenix's Fate

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

May the light falter, Darkness shadow and Grey prevail

As Artemis arrived and flew off with her new burden, Ally smiled before closing her eyes and falling into a blissful sleep. She had done her duty and it was now inevitable to wait for Time to carry on his bidding.


	12. Year 1- The Flying Foray

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><p><strong>Chapter 11- The Flying Foray:<strong>

If Ally and her friends were being quite honest they had initially thought both Ronald Weasley and Draco Malfoy to be mildly irritating. By the third week of October they had been proven wrong, whilst the two were annoying on their own, when coupled with one another and Hermione Granger they were an absolute nightmare.

This trio was unexpected in the least and Ally guessed rightly that if they ever were told of this connection they would not be very happy. After all a Muggle-born, Pure-blood ponce and a Blood-traitor were the most unlikely of friends.

Harry had lamented that just when he thought that he had gotten rid of Dudley, he had found himself surrounded by even worse individuals. Susan had just found the entire situation to be insufferable, Neville had found both boys to be his nightmare as they liked to pick on him and Ally had found them funny. This humour came from the fact that they always seemed scared or at least wary of her and tended to avoid her where possible. Ally knew that Ron did it fearing his brothers' retribution and Draco, his parents' ire; Hermione was intelligent enough to know not to engage with Ally.

Of course this state of affairs could and would not last forever and things finally came to head on the last week of October. There had been a recent post on the noticeboards of all the House Common Rooms mentioning flying lessons for all first years. Gryffindor with some awful twist of fate had ended up with Slytherin. Ally privately thought that it was the Headmaster's doing to promote House feuding rather than better relations; the old man had definitely lost it.

"Great," Neville had groaned, "just what I always hoped to do, make a fool of myself on a broom in front of that blond ponce."

Susan had patted Neville's arm in comfort and Harry had agreed with Neville. Harry's self-respect had increased since he had met Ally but it was not a miraculous change, he was still often timid and nervous.

"Well, Draco is good at flying but not nearly as good as he says he is," Ally comforted, she was never the sort of person to sugar coat anything, this was the reason that many girls could not get on with her, that and she was very beautiful which threatened them.

"Well, by the way Weasley speaks he seems to believe that he's a great flyer as well. I'm sure there's bound to be some sort of comic relief at the lesson," Susan's comfort was much better received than Ally's, mind you it mostly was even under normal circumstances.

Ron Weasley did talk about flying a lot, his entire childhood was portrayed as zooming around the Devonshire countryside on a broomstick.

Of course Ally knew from the twins that this was not the case and certainly the story where he claimed that he had once hit a muggle helicopter was untrue. That and if he had Molly Weasley would have punished him so hard for breaking the Statute of Secrecy that he would still be in permanent punishment. When she vocalised this thought her responses from her friends were certainly entertaining.

Ally rolled her eyes, "I don't know what you want me to say Nev, honestly, grow a pair. Flying is highly unlikely to be the worst thing to ever happen to you."

Susan and Neville scowled at her, while Harry said nothing but privately agreed with Ally.

"Well at least we wouldn't have to put up with that prat," Susan had declared, tossing her dark red hair over a shoulder.

Harry had agreed, "Well if that had happened he wouldn't be trying to crawl up my butt at all times."

Even the normally happy-go-lucky Neville had an unsavoury opinion of the gluttonous redhead, "If that had happened we'd all be better off, I mean the way he eats is enough damage without him being a hazard to our health."

One thing that both Algie and Augusta agreed on when it came to Neville was that he would be a disaster on a broomstick. Privately, Ally was inclined to agree with them, Neville had only recently gotten over his clumsiness on the ground. She was not really willing to try his recently found feet in the air- it seemed to be a recipe for disaster.

Much to Susan's amusement was the fact that resident Gryffindor know-it-all, Hermione Granger was even more nervous about flying on a broomstick than Neville was. Granger had by this point spoken a lot to Percy Weasley, Ron's older brother, a 5th year, one that was very pompous and like an older, male version of Granger.

Percy had told the horrified first year that one could not learn to fly a broomstick from reading a book. Hermione, of course decided to try anyway. At breakfast on the morning of the flying lesson she had somehow managed to corner Ally, who had been unfortunate enough to have woken up early on the same day as her and bored her to death by regurgitating Quidditch facts from _Quidditch Through the Ages_.

Ally had somehow managed to keep her temper until, this happened.

"I am sure that I will of course excel at this, Black, you'll learn I'm sure," Hermione had told the younger girl rather patronisingly. Granger was still under the misconception that the Quartet, barring Harry was Muggle-born.

"Why thank you, Granger, but I think you'll find that the book in your hand is going to be able to teach you to fly as much Binns' is going to teach you something other than goblin wars in the next year," that being said Ally had ignored her, in spite of the mass spluttering from the bushy-haired witch.

Everyone at the Gryffindor table had been glad when Hermione's resulting tirade had been cut off by the arrival of the mail. Harry had not had a single letter since Hagrid's note but Malfoy did not pick on him, instead he and Ron both picked on Ally who had yet to get a single note (at least publicly).

Ron's old owl, Errol turned up every day with a whole bunch of sweet treats and the Malfoy eagle owl swooped in packages from home, something that both boys always rubbed in Ally's face. Not that she was particularly bothered by it.

That particular morning Neville's grandmother's barn owl brought him a package as he sat next to Susan at the Gryffindor table, that morning they had been joined by Daphne Greengrass, Tracey Davis and Megan Jones. The trio of cousins took turns joining the Gryffindor's but this morning they were there to impart their wisdom about flying lessons which they had had the previous day.

Neville tentatively opened the present and groaned. It seemed to be a clear ball with smoke inside. Daphne chucked a friendly arm around his shoulders as Megan hid giggles; Tracey being the least verbal of the three hid a smirk. Susan kissed his cheek to take away the sting.

"What is that," Harry asked his friend.

"It's a Remembrall, it's meant to turn red if you've forgotten something," Neville explained, as they all stared at the ball it did nothing.

"Well, that's good," Megan offered her friend.

Neville smirked back in response.

"It's actually pretty useless if you think about it, because it doesn't tell you what you've forgotten," Daphne pointed out.

Ally laughed as she looked at the ball clutched in Neville's hands, "well, keep it for now, Nev, I may be able to convince your uncle to let me improve its function. That and who knows when Brown may need it, even if you don't," the latter was undoubtedly true for Lavender Brown was ditzy at the best of times.

Neville nodded and was about pocket it, when Draco Malfoy who was walking past the table snatched it from him.

Ron jumped up along with Harry, both were hoping for a fight, the trouble was that Ron wanted to help Malfoy against the "squib", Neville and Harry wanted to defend Neville. Professor McGonagall who spotted the trouble with her feline eyes was quickly upon them.

"What seems to be the problem here, Miss Greengrass," Professor McGonagall's Scottish brogue permeated through the air.

It's only been almost two months but already the stern teacher had noticed something strange about the first years, normally the rivalry was intense, this year it was less so.

Draco Malfoy was very similar to his own father except some of his mother's prudence tended to appear at times. That was the politest way anyone would ever describe the blond aristocrat. Mostly people saw him as a clone of Lucius, just less smart and charismatic.

Ronald Weasley on the other hand seemed to have gotten no brains; Minerva thought privately that by the time Ron came along there were no good brain cells left.

Harry Potter was normally quiet and calm boy but pair him with Ronald Weasley or Draco Malfoy and all hell would break loose.

Ally Black was nothing like her father, whilst Sirius was a prankster, Ally kept out of the limelight as much as she was allowed; only answering questions when she was asked. She did seem to have a severe dislike for Albus Dumbledore which automatically meant that Minerva was distrustful of her, that and Sirius was a great actor given his schooling and then subsequent future, Ally could be very similar.

Minerva's beady eyes scanned over to the next two people, Neville Longbottom and Susan Bones, both were decent students much to her relief, the last thing she needed was another Sirius Black- Peter Pettigrew situation, in this new quartet all four seemed equal in brains. Well that wasn't strictly true but they were all talented in different ways and that much was obvious.

That left the three members of other houses seated at her lions' table, Megan Jones and her cousins Daphne and Tracey. Megan looked worried and about two seconds away from a nervous breakdown, Tracey as soon as she had seen Minerva's entrance had drifted back to her table whilst Daphne was cool and collected. Minerva privately thought that she'd make a good Slytherin. So it was to Daphne that she posed her question.

Daphne Greengrass regarded the woman in front of her before answering. "Draco has Neville's Remembrall, Professor."

McGonagall saw from the corner of her eye that Ally was incredibly smiling.

"Something funny, Miss Black," she asked.

Ally paused not saying anything.

"Well, spit it out."

"Of course, Professor, it never fails to amuse me how alike both Ron and Draco are, yet they'll never see it."

Minerva McGonagall was aghast; she had never expected an 11 year-old mind to see what she herself had failed to until that moment. Both Ron and Draco were very similar, both were bigoted.

Scowling, Draco dropped the ball into Neville's palm, "I didn't want it anyway," and he sloped off, leaving a fuming Ron Weasley behind.

"Sure you didn't," Susan muttered under her breath.

At three-thirty that afternoon the Gryffindors headed outside in a flurry of emotion to the Quidditch pitch for their first ever flying lesson. It was hard to tell who was more nervous, the muttering Neville or the frazzled Hermione whose hair was sticking out in all sorts of directions.

The day was sunny but breezy, the Scottish air was nippy and the grounds of Hogwarts seemed to be even more magical with every passing day. The Slytherins of course were already there along with 20 broomsticks, Ally almost laughed at the horror and disgust on Draco's face at the old broomstick that was lying by his feet. It was evident that the aristocratically raised ponce had never had to deal with anything second-hand ever before.

The Gryffindors joined the Slytherins and took up places next to the free brooms, which coincidentally were the worst ones left. Ally scrutinised them carefully, she knew that she had to find the safest for Harry and Neville both of whom had never been on a broom, although, truth be told, she had never been on one either. Her childhood had been too hectic and worrisome for her to actually have too much fun; however, she had a feeling that she was going to be less of a nightmare on a broom than Neville. Susan was the only one of the quartet to have ever flown and she was decent in the air and as such she had gotten one of the most battered broomsticks.

Ally was more than aware of the fact that these broomsticks had myriads of problems, Fred and George had complained that some flew too high, others flew slightly to the side. Some vibrated; in essence these broomsticks had seen better days. Ally had wondered what exactly Hogwarts' budgets were being spent on, because tuition was expensive, it certainly was not being spent on getting good teachers cue Binns and Quirell and apparently it was not being spent on equipment either. But that was a discussion for another day.

Madam Hooch, the flying instructor had thankfully arrived before Malfoy and Weasley could get into a slagging match. Rolanda Hooch was a young woman in her late 20s and had been a contemporary of Aurora Sinistra; she had flyaway blonde hair and hawk eyes. Hooch was a master of flying, Ally knew that if it hadn't been for the onset of the Wizarding War against Voldemort the woman would have become a Quidditch professional but as it was she got injured in a battle and was never able to play again.

"Well, what are you waiting for, everyone stand beside your broomstick," Hooch barked, causing Hermione to give a little shriek of fright.

Ally glanced down at her broom; it was one of the worse ones, if not the worst. The bristles were sticking out in different directions and the handle looked like it had been stained with something that looked an awful lot like blood. Shaking her head away from nervous thoughts, Ally looked determinedly at the broom.

"Stick your wand arm over the broom and call "up"," Hooch ordered.

Ally put her left arm compared to most people's right and called out decisively, "UP!"

The broom rose fluidly up into her hand and she caught it easily, then she looked around, Harry's had been the only other one to do so on the first go. Susan's broom rose into her hand on the second attempt much like Draco's. Neville and Hermione were the last two to get their brooms to move into their hands, Ally had a feeling it was because the brooms could feel that these two were reluctant to leave the ground.

Hooch then walked through the rows of students, correcting their grips and teaching them how to mount them. Ally nearly laughed out loud when Ron and Draco were told that they had been doing it wrong for years.

Hooch was an accomplished flyer and it was quite obvious that she expected adequacy when she told Hermione Granger that perhaps she should go back to the castle if she did not want to partake in this Wizarding tradition. Ally had to stifle a laugh at Granger's affronted look, Hooch certainly attained results that much was for sure.

Hooch was finally satisfied and told them how to fly, however, her instructions were cut off when Neville's broom began to vibrate and take him up into the air. The poor boy actually looked like he might faint; Ally couldn't help but see the young boy he once was in the screams that he emitted.

"Come back here, boy," Hooch called up to Neville amidst Draco and Ron's snickers.

"Madam Hooch," Susan broached, "he's never been on a broom before."

"That is no excuse Miss Bones," Hooch snapped, she was incredibly worried.

Ally gently placed an hand on each Harry and Susan's arms as she tried to concentrate her abilities to stop Neville from flying any higher, it was difficult, "Madam, I do not think that Neville means to fly that high, but I dread to think the consequences of a fall, so perhaps we can set about bringing him down," she suggested.

Hooch seemed to shake herself into action as she grabbed her broom and began to fly up towards Neville, but Ally's spell was broken when Ron Weasley brought up his wand and cast an incorrect "lumos" spell which served to send Neville crashing to the ground as Ally's magic could no longer hold him up. The spell Weasley had used was a variation of the dropping hex and had caused Neville to fall heavily onto his wrist.

Hooch rapidly dismounted from her broom, she of course had not seen Weasley cast the spell, so she just thought that the broom had finally had enough, which given the state of the broom was a fair thought.

"Up you get Longbottom," Madam Hooch pulled up the young boy who had a few tears leaking down his round face, "it's just a broken wrist. I'll take you to the hospital wing."

"Please, Madam, can I go with you," Susan asked blushingly.

"Very well, as for the rest of you if you so much as fly 1 cm in the air I will have you expelled faster than you can say Quidditch," Hooch's yellow eyes flashed dangerously at them all, as she turned and floated Neville away with Susan following in their wake.

As soon as they were out of sight, Draco burst into laughter, "did you see his face, the fat little cry baby? Honestly, Weasley, stop stealing all my glory but that was brilliant, the squib deserved it."

Ally grabbed hold of Harry in warning, seeing that he was very close to attacking Draco and that would never be a good thing if it was allowed. The compliment and insult seemed to have gone right over Ron Weasley's head as he just gaped at Malfoy.

Before anything else could be said Malfoy spotted Neville's Remembrall and picked it up, "oh, look it's that thing that Longbottom's grandmother sent, I better leave it somewhere easy for him to find."

"Draco, don't," Ally warned but like normal her cousin ignored her, focusing instead on the irate Harry.

"Give it here, Malfoy," Harry snapped.

"Oh I don't think so, Potter. How about I leave it for him, say up a tree," with that he grabbed hold of his broom and flew into the air.

This time Ally's restraining arm wasn't enough for Harry picked up his broom and mounted it, Ally groaned knowing that she could not stop him.

"You heard Madam Hooch, Harry, you'll be expelled," came Hermione Granger's shrill tones, Harry ignored her and flew off after Draco.

Ally sighed as she raised an arm above her head, squinting to see what was going on above. Harry was a natural on a broom- that much was obvious. Draco was decent, although nowhere near as good as he always boasted. Ally watched as Harry attempted to do a chaser move on Draco in an attempt to get the Remembrall off of him, but Ally saw the grin that was on her cousin's face, and she didn't like it one bit.

Ally didn't see much of a choice, she wasn't about to leave this to luck, who she knew from first-hand experience could be a bit of a pain, if she was putting it lightly. So she surmised that she had no choice but to pick up her battered school broom and mount it. She could hear the intake of breath from behind her, and knew that the Gryffindors and Slytherins were watching her every move. She sighed, she was a Gryffindor, so she may as well go for it, ignoring the hysteria of Hermione Granger, she flew off.

The feeling was unlike anything she had felt before, it was an almost weightlessness, the broom moved to her slightest motion. She had to admit that it was liberating, she felt free, but she had too much to worry about to truly get caught up in the moment. Both Harry and Draco were flying higher, and Ally had a sneaky suspicion that they were close to McGonagall's window now.

"Draco, perhaps you should just give me the Remembrall and then nobody has to get hurt," Ally suggested to her cousin, already knowing what his answer would be.

"No Crabbe or Goyle up here to save your neck, Malfoy," Harry told the blond aristocrat.

Draco seemed to realise the same thing, "Catch it if you can, Potter, Black," that being said he hurled the fragile ball at the ground.

Ally grimaced, a quick look at Harry told her that she would have to be the one to take the dive, for he was too busy gaping at her cousin. Ally rapidly pushed her broom into a dive, accelerating to pick up speed, the ball was falling fast, but she was travelling faster. Two feet above the ground Ally reached out and caught the ball in her hand, landing smoothly on the ground, followed by Harry and then Draco.

"Never, ever do that again, do you understand me, Draco," Ally told her cousin in a deadly cold voice, he simply nodded, scared out of his mind. Draco was not stupid, that is to say that he was not clever either, but he knew enough to know that Ally was not somebody to cross.

"Alexandra Black! Harry Potter! Never in all my time at Hogwarts have I ever seen such blatant disregard for rules!" Minerva McGonagall was foaming from the mouth; few had ever seen her so incensed. Ally knew instinctively that she would not listen to reason and pulled the two into the castle, not saying a word, her lips a thin line of disapproval.

"I highly doubt that we are the first ever rule breakers," Ally whispered to her friend, "in fact we had a good reason to break a rule, most others don't."

Harry nodded, but inside he was too worried to agree fully with his friend, he did not want to get expelled and sent back to the Dursleys'. Ally realised this and she put her hand into his in comfort, flushing lightly. She wished that she could do something about it but she couldn't because he had to stay there for now.

"Sorry to bother you Professor Flitwick," McGonagall was saying, "but may I borrow Wood for a moment?"

Ally turned to see that Harry had paled; she squeezed the hand that she was holding reassuringly.

Wood turned out to be a sturdily built 5th year, Ally was thought he may be related to the Flints given his bone structure. Not that Ally would ever mention that to them given their well-known mutual hatred.

"Wood, I've found you a Seeker and Chaser," McGonagall told the burly boy, causing Ally's eyebrows to shoot up into her hairline, her hair changing quickly to purple in surprise and then back again to ruby red. It had been a while since she had lost control of any of her emotions.

"What," Wood looked shocked as he stared at the two first years, Ally waved at him cheerfully, seeming to shock the older boy.

"She caught a Remembrall less than a foot off the ground after diving maybe 70 or 80 feet at top speed on a school broom, she'll be an excellent Seeker," McGonagall insisted, and Wood's face broke into a grin.

"Why am I here, Professor," Harry finally piped up, now that he was sure he wasn't being expelled.

"Potter, here will be an excellent addition to Johnson and Spinnet, Wood, he manages his broom better than most Chasers. He would be a good addition to the team," McGonagall's voice brooked no opposition and perhaps Wood heard it because he grinned.

"Ever seen a match, Potter, B-Black," he stuttered over Ally's name and the girl groaned.

"Seriously Wood, I'm not likely to kill you, Ally is fine. No, I have never seen a game of Quidditch, or at this level, I have been to the World Cup before but have never played so I know the rules," she smiled at the older boy trying to calm him.

"I haven't seen a game at all, Muggle-raised, remember," Harry reminded the older boy.

"Also, Professor, Katie Bell would make a good reserve for Potter, she is good but he is probably better. We'll have to get Potter and A-A-Ally decent brooms, a Nimbus 2000 or a Cleansweep 7, I should think. They are both slim and fast, they'll need something to compliment that," Wood observed.

McGonagall seemed to agree with that assessment for her lips twitched in something that could be considered a smile, "I shall see to it, Wood, you may return to Charms."

Wood nodded and giving one last glance in the direction of the first-years returned back to class.

"I expect to hear that the two of you have been training hard," McGonagall turned her stern gaze to the two eleven year-olds, Ally did not visibly react but Harry cringed back slightly.

"I assure you Professor we will give it our all, it's all we can do, as for brooms, I believe that I can attend to that. Owl post is a wonderful invention," Ally commented coolly.

The Professor nodded before bestowing upon them a rare but chilly smile, "your father would be proud, Potter, he too was an excellent Chaser and your mother would be impressed, Black, she too had skill as a Seeker."

Ally smiled, it was not a real one for she knew what McGonagall was alluding to, and she knew all too well that the Head of Gryffindor suspected that Charlotte McKinnon was not her mother, this seemed like a compliment but really it was a barb. Harry on the other hand beamed.

"You two have to be kidding," Susan was incredulous as the quartet was hidden in a strategically placed alcove near the staff room.

"Nope, I kid you not, the woman is Quidditch barmy, and it's ridiculous. I mean she's like in her 70s for Merlin's sake," Ally complained, "but I must admit that I like the game, it's enjoyable."

"We are the youngest players in a century," Harry commented.

"Well actually," Neville started, "you are Harry, but Ally's the youngest in 4 centuries, the Seekers' tend to be older as they need experience. That and they tend to get clobbered a lot."

"Guys, target spotted," Susan finally said as she peered out and saw that Dumbledore had just appeared.

"Right, well let's get this show on the road," Harry said clapping his hands together.

Ally smirked very slightly before waving her hand at Dumbledore's back. The prank that they decided to pull would make everything that Dumbledore ate taste like earwax, she had heard from Rory that Albus Dumbledore had once come across an Every Flavour Bean in that taste and had hated it.

"Mission accomplished, let's split," Neville, was the most nervous about this prank.

"Well he has a point, this one isn't for the school it's for revenge for the old coot trying not let you be sorted," Susan unsurprisingly agreed with Neville.

"True enough, we'll have to either help the twins pull one over the whole school or we have to pull one ourselves," Ally agreed.

That night in the Common Room, Harry and Ally were cornered by 4 older Gryffindors.

"Hi, Gred, Forge," Ally greeted them nonchalantly; it did not intimidate her in the least that they were grinning like maniacs.

"Heya Ally-Cat-"

"We are rather put out-"

"That you did not tell us-"

"That-"

"You-"

"Are now on-"

"The Gryffindor-"

"Quidditch team-"

"How could you do that do us-"

"Forge, my dear friend, where would the fun in that be," Ally asked; her emerald green eyes were twinkling.

Gred and Forge pouted, they loved Ally a lot but she did keep a lot of juicy gossip away from them as well.

"Well done on making the team, Harry, Ally," a dark skinned girl commented, "I'm Angelina Johnson, I'm a Chaser, this is Alicia Spinnet and you know the twins, she's a Chaser and they're Beaters. We have to go now, but well done."

"Great, no pressure," Harry muttered.

Ally gave him a wry grin in response as the two left the common room to meet Neville, Susan, Blaise and Daphne to do their work. Sometimes Tracey, Megan and Hufflepuff 4th year, Cedric Diggory joined them.

Later that same day Ally found herself incredibly aware that the letter that she had received from her cousin probably needed addressing in person. She also knew that Aurora tended to eat alone in her quarters to avoid getting herself into awkward conversations at the staff table, she had compromised by eating alone twice a week. So it was with this in mind that Ally went to visit her cousin for dinner, it never failed to cheer her up. After all family was important no matter how messed up it was.

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><p><strong>AN: That's it for this time, guys. But please use the box below to leave your comments!**


	13. Year 1- The Midnight Duel

**Disclaimer: I only own anything that you don't recognise from JKR's work.**

**A/N: Sorry for the delay guys, I was on holiday. Now I am back so hopefully before school restarts there may be a few more updates. **

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**Once again thanks to those who read and reviewed and please keep doing so. They are great motivators and often give me inspiration! ;P**

Skyeward MusicLover- **Here is the next update, thanks for reading and reviewing. Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

NicoleR85- **It's always great to hear that people love your work. I hope you keep enjoying it despite my late update!**

Iveya Jade's psycho mind 08- **Everyone Bleeds Red is still going to be updated some point soon so please keep watching out for that and reading and reviewing it also. I'm glad that you liked the comparison between Ron and Draco- because they are there, even in canon. The plotline about Hermione finding out that the other three are not Muggles will not happen in Year 1. And Ally's blood purity is not going to be common knowledge until probably year 4 or 5. It's all part of the plot! Don't worry, it will be mentioned again!**

Blue Luver5000- **I'm glad that you love it!**

deathlyhallow0- **I'm glad you like the story. I know that Ally and Harry are not spending much time together but it will be happening a bit more as the years continue, so don't worry. The Weasley bashing is getting quite controversial but it will still be happening but maybe not explicitly until a bit later.**

laissankari- **Here's the next post, enjoy!**

Snowball1982- **Wow, thanks for the review. It's good to know that my work is being appreciated, I hope that this does not fail to meet expectations.**

Penny is wise- **I agree with you to some extent about the Seeker position and the Quidditch game, but I put Harry in the chaser position because I feel that it will suit him and the story better. Anyway, thanks for reading and reviewing like always and enjoy!**

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**And to everyone else, keep reading and reviewing!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 12- The Midnight Duel:<strong>

Harry Potter looked around the Great Hall, it was not often that Ally decided not to turn up to a meal and he honestly had no idea where she went but given the fact that none of the others were concerned, he decided to ignore this for a little while. Ally was an enigma; it was part of her charm. Not that he thought that she was charming, the thought made him blush. He liked Ally, she was the first person his own age who liked him and he knew that he would marry her eventually, but he didn't want to scare her away. He was broken out of his thoughts by a voice.

"Getting ready to get on the next train home, Potter," Harry almost groaned but somehow stifled it as he heard Draco Malfoy's drawling voice from behind him.

Sure enough when he turned to look behind him, there was the blond ponce. He was surrounded by the two gorillas that he called friends. He thought that he could never have met someone dumber than Dudley but there they were in all their glory- Crabbe and Goyle.

"Don't you have to go cry to Daddy about something, Draco," Susan asked sweetly, inwardly she was resisting the urge to curse him.

"I'd be a bit nicer if I were you Bones, don't want to end up the same way as Mummy and Daddy."

Neville growled, "I see that you are a lot braver now that you are on the ground, Draco. Do the twin gorillas seem like good back-up?"

Malfoy snarled, "I challenge you to a duel, but against Potter, you will be the second, what do you say, Longbottom," Draco challenged, fully expecting the Gryffindor boy to back down.

"Okay, you're on, Malfoy. Time and place," Neville asked, despite Susan's warning touch on his wrist, to try and get him to stop before he dug himself into a hole.

Susan groaned, she just knew that this was going to end badly. Draco Malfoy was a coward and for him to ask for an honour duel was suspicious to say the least.

"The trophy room is always open and Filch never checks it. So tonight, there at midnight," Draco proclaimed.

"Fine," Neville retorted.

As Draco and his cronies walked away, Hermione Granger butted in, "You can't be thinking of going? He's going to get you into trouble."

"Leave it alone, Granger, it's none of your business," Neville snapped, this was uncharacteristic for him, but he had been pushed to the end of his tether.

"What's a Wizard's Duel, Neville," Harry asked, his eyes widening as Neville explained the term to him.

"What would someone like you know about such things," Granger asked snobbishly but one look at Neville's stormy expression had her retreating to sit far away next to Seamus Finnegan.

"I am more concerned as to how we are going to get out without Granger shoving her abnormally bushy head into it," Susan mused.

"I think that Ally may be able to help us there, I'm sure she has some sleeping potion, we slip some to her. Hermione always has a hot chocolate before she goes up to the dormitory," Harry observed.

"That's a good idea," Neville agreed as the trio walked back towards Gryffindor Tower, "the question is, is Ally going to help us?"

"Is Ally going to help you do what, Nev," Ally seemed to materialise out of nowhere as she fell into step with her three friends.

"Slip Granger a sleeping draught with her hot chocolate," Susan remarked.

"Well you know that I'll do it, but why am I doing so," Ally asked, there was no love lost between Hermione and herself.

"Draco Malfoy challenged us to an honour duel," Harry told her.

"Great, I leave the three of you alone for one bloody second and you've already gotten yourself into trouble. Who is his second," Ally groaned, she knew that it was a bad idea leaving the others alone but what she had to do was important.

Ally had had to go to see Aurora and had been given correspondence from Croaker, essentially telling her that she was on her own. She had to take whatever resources she had access to and do whatever it took to fulfil their plans. It wasn't very helpful, but then again Croaker wasn't known for being helpful, deep down though, Ally was proud to be able to help, but that was very deep down.

"Crabbe, and in all fairness Als, they were provoked. Neville is Harry's second," Susan piped up.

Ally rolled her eyes, she could not believe how foolish they were. It was evident that Harry had no clue what they had gotten themselves into and that Augusta and Amelia had sheltered their wards too much. Draco on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing.

Outwardly however Ally managed a grin, "This'll be fun, I'm pretty sure that Crabbe doesn't know how to hold a wand. Even if Nev holds back he'll still win against both of them. Draco is good at talking the talk and walking the walk, but he's all show and no real substance, much like his father," this last was said as an afterthought as she thought of the long-haired blond aristocrat one of her favourite cousins was married to.

"You aren't mad," Neville asked the younger student.

"No, I'm not mad, slightly irritated that Draco managed to get you to do a duel on his terms, but not mad. Before you ask, Sue, I'm not at all angry at the fact that I'm not Harry's second; firstly, I'm sure that he can hold his own. Secondly, Nev is a decent dueller, and thirdly, it is best not show all of our cards right now."

"Isn't Draco on our side," Harry asked confused, from what he could understand, Draco's parents would help Ally out, they were allies. Harry had yet to understand Wizarding politics and as such did not see the difference between allies and trustworthy friends.

"Not necessarily, Lucius, his father isn't on our side, he gives off the impression that he is but he's a cunning, opportunistic manipulator. Cissy, that's Draco's mum, Narcissa, is my cousin, she is on our side but she's powerless for the moment against her husband. Draco is a mini-Lucius; I have no doubt that should Voldemort return he will join him.

As for being allies, we are, it is mainly out of family loyalty to my cousin, she knows that and Lucius is a Slytherin to the core, being my ally suits him, so he is. What he doesn't know is that Narcissa will tell me everything that I want to know regardless of their marriage vows, she was born a Black and for us birth family is stronger than married family. Well at least for the most part."

"Are all Pureblood things so complex," Harry moaned, Ally stifled a smirk whilst the other two laughed.

"Caput Draconis," Ally told the Fat Lady who swung backwards to reveal the Common Room.

Neville was the one to answer Harry's question, "Don't feel bad, Harry, Susan and I grew up around this stuff and we still don't fully understand it. Ally is some sort of alien; she must be, to be able to remember all the crap she does. It's really impressive."

Susan reached over and hit Neville upside the head despite Ally not hearing his comments as she was too busy lacing Hermione Granger's mug of hot chocolate. Ally then handed the mug over to the stuck-up Muggle-born who took it with ill-grace.

Ally gave Granger an innocent smile before rushing off to join the other three, Susan and Neville entertained themselves by playing Wizard's chess (which they both were not so good at) whilst Harry tried to complete their potions' essay. Ally, meanwhile had curled up on the sofa with her Kneazle and was reading a rather thick tome, which to everyone barring those who already knew read as _101 Ways to annoy in Hogwarts_ but really was _Pureblood Supremacy: The Dos, The Don'ts and The Absolute Musts_. Ally had no real need to read this book but given her own blood status and some social circles she had allies in, thought it best to brush up on the topic.

Finally the common room emptied and the quartet snuck out of there as fast as they could, it was times like this that Ally wished that the map had been finished, it would make sneaking out easier. That and it would make her life a hell of a lot easier, but nothing could be done at the moment.

"I'm worried, Ally," Harry whispered into his friend's ear. Harry was not someone who admitted to his insecurities easily, his upbringing made sure of that, but he felt safe with Ally Black so he moved closer to her in the darkness as he admitted this.

Ally smiled, but it was slightly rueful, "In all truthfulness Harry, it's slightly fishy that Draco has issued this challenge, he is a lot like his father, an opportunist so it worries me that he has issued this duel. It occurs to me that he may be using this to try to expel you by getting you caught outside curfew."

Harry looked worried, Neville sent a glare in Ally's direction, the last thing they needed was Harry getting freaked out, well even more so. Susan rolled her eyes; Neville was fighting a losing battle there.

"What? Nev, I never sugar-coat things, you know better than almost anyone, I'm not about to start, he's not fragile," Ally snapped at her friend as they snuck into the deserted trophy room.

Without even thinking about the impact of his words, Neville snapped back, "Yeah, well unlike you, we actually care about other people. It's what family does, not that you'd know," he immediately knew that he had gone too far by the look on Ally's face.

Ally and Neville were so engrossed in their staring match that the latter missed Harry's grateful look thrown in Ally's direction but both Susan and the girl in question did. This was an interesting revelation to say the least; it meant that Harry was beginning to trust them.

Suddenly Ally turned her head and hid a grimace; she thought that she heard some snuffling. Reacting only as years of training with Croaker could have made her do, Ally reached out and grabbed the other three and pulled them into the cover of the shadows.

"Filch," Neville groaned.

"And that stupid flea-bitten cat," Susan spat.

None of them particularly liked the cat, but Susan especially didn't. Harry and Ally had yet to say anything, the former was petrified, but the latter was calculating. Neville looked beseechingly at Ally, the girl smiled, all was forgiven but not forgotten, she knew better than most that things were said at the heat of the moment but Neville did actually mean it, and she couldn't really blame him.

"We're going to be expelled," Harry moaned because he really didn't want to end up back at the Dursleys' residence.

Ally was ignoring the moans that were emitting from the others, some quick thinking was required to avoid the caretaker and his horrible cat, "alright, guys on my count run after me, okay?"

The others stared at her, but Ally seemed to take their silence as an acceptance for she quickly ran out of the shadows and out of the room. The others had no choice but to follow, Ally took the back knowing that she was the fastest runner and that if she didn't make sure that no one got left behind then the chances were that Susan would not be able to keep up.

Suddenly Ally almost slammed into Susan's back for the others had stopped in one spot; the problem seemed to be a locked door.

"Seriously, Nev, you can't remember how to open a locked door," Ally asked him incredulously, it was one of the more simple charms that they had had to learn for Croaker.

Neville blushed red, he knew that he should know the spell but he could not for the life of him remember what the spell was supposed to be. Under any other circumstance he would have shot something back at the other student, but given his earlier issue he left well enough alone. Susan grimaced when Ally looked expectantly at her, she too had forgotten, the thing was that the two always relied on Ally to pull them through so they didn't think it was important to remember the spells. That and they always thought they were invincible, Ally was jealous of this; she was under no delusions about her mortality.

Ally rolled her eyes; they couldn't afford to stand around with Filch lurking around. Just as she was about to cast the charm Peeves appeared.

The Poltergeist cackled as he saw the first years, "Ooh, ickle firsties, what fun, students out of bed, I should tell Filch," he swooped down on the quartet.

Ally thought that she may be able to convince the poltergeist to leave them alone but Susan had gotten frustrated and displaying her redhead's temper she tried to bat Peeves away, this was a bad idea. Ally groaned aloud, this was not going to end well, instinctively she pushed Harry behind her, shielding him with her own body.

"STUDENTS OUT OF BED, STUDENTS IN THE CHARMS CORRIDOR!"

Ally tightened her grip on her wand and groaned, but she knew that she had to do something to save them, or at least attempt to, "Alohomora," she whispered pointing her wand at the lock, which turned and opened.

Ally did not even look around in the room, she had a feeling that this was the forbidden corridor on the third floor; she pressed her ear to the door wondering what was going on. She could hear Filch's shuffling feet move closer, apparently Peeves had disappeared as quickly as he had arrived for she could hear the caretaker muttering about "annoying poltergeists".

Ally was aware of someone tapping her on the shoulder, turning she came face to face with the Cerberus that her cousin had talked to her about. The thing was massive, and Ally could see now why Hagrid loved it so much, it was a magnificent dog.

"Ah," Ally said rather stupidly, she really didn't know what to say. Inwardly she was thinking about what to do when one finds themselves face to face with a gigantic, slobbering, three-headed dog.

"Ally, between Filch and certain death, I'll take Filch," Harry told his friend who nodded in response.

"Okay, Neville, when I tell you to run, go okay and the others follow him," Ally told them quickly taking in the surroundings, there was a chance that she may not make it but she would have to make do.

"What about you," Susan asked tremulously.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine," Ally nodded reassuringly as she rushed forward and began whistling a tune, the three heads began drooping as soon as the music permeated through the air and Ally thanked her cousin Narcissa in her mind for telling her that Cerberus' liked music. She wasn't sure if she was going to make it, but at least it would leave her friends alone.

Neville sighed relieved that the dog was falling asleep, one look at Ally told him to run as fast he could, so opening the door he ran out followed by the other three, Ally locking the door safely behind them with an advanced charm.

They all ran to the Gryffindor Common Room, the Fat Lady was not best pleased at being awoken at this ungodly hour and made it known until Harry flashed a charming smile at her and she melted.

"Nice save, Potter," Ally muttered as the two headed off to their dorms.

"Thanks, Black, I do try," Harry blushingly replied, as he reached over and pecked her on the cheek, "thanks for saving us," and he disappeared.

Ally stared at his retreating back in shock, things were certainly improving. If anyone had seen Ally then they would have noticed the flushed pallor of her cheeks and the goofy smile that graced her face as she touched the cheek that Harry had kissed in both shock and awe.


	14. Year 1- Malfoy Murmurings

**Disclaimer: Harry Potter is still owned by JKR but I do own the OCs and the plotline.**

**A/N: Hey guys, I'm so terribly sorry that it's been a month. Please don't kill me! But I was at a loose end after the last chapter, but I have finally made a bridge to the next part of the plot. This is a filler-ish chapter, one that will make more sense in later chapters. This one barely has Ally at all, which may a relief to some of you who felt there was too much of her. BUT she will be back in the next chapter- I promise.**

**So reviewers...**

**NicoleR85 - I'm glad that you loved it. Here is your update, a little late- sorry!**

**dream lighting- Well, Harry and Ally are close, but we'll have to see. Neville really shouldn't have said that, the friendship is already strained because of past events and their over-reliance on Ally, so we'll see. As for the Headmaster and Hermione well they will have no mercy at least not for a while, if ever. I hope you enjoy this next chapter.**

**laissankari- UPDATE, YAY!**

**jamnaz79- Thank you, I'm glad that you like my writing style. Yes, it does seem a bit improbable about her Healing abilities but she is very magically strong- don't worry she won't be a complete Mary Sue, it will become more obvious later on that she does have weaknesses as well. So I hope that you keep reading and reviewing.**

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**Belgrath- I'm glad that you enjoy this story. As for the hints, some are meant to be obvious and some aren't. Don't worry, Harry is going to get a bigger role in future chapters, I promise. Anyway, as for Lily being Ally's mother, NOOOO, that's not where the hints are going, I have a plan for those hints. Besides, the hints don't mean too much yet, but I'll try to make them less obvious in the future. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Paganhero- At the moment I am thinking of splitting this into two or three stories, but like with most works, it seems to have a life of its own, so we'll see. I hope you keep enjoying this story.**

**mwinter1- The wait is over. Enjoy**

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**Grace Furey- I know, she may not want to wash that cheek, but she may have to, the unfortunate fact of life. It is still very innocent between them though. Don't worry, the Pureblood aspect will come out shortly at least for some of the characters and Hermione is going to be aghast at her reactions to them. But we'll see. Anyway, enjoy this next chapter.**

**Anyway, keep reading and reviewing people!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 13- Malfoy murmurings…<strong>

Draco had been furious when his plans had been foiled but he was glad that Ally had not written to his mother, while he knew that his father would support him against that Blood-traitor upstart there was no doubt even in his simple mind that his mother would side against him. It never occurred to Draco that at the tender age of 11 he had made the decision that would most likely seal his future into one avenue, one from which there was no escape.

Draco knew that his mother was pretty; to that end he believed that his father was the man of the house and Narcissa, a mere trophy wife. This was what it looked like to outsiders but any Black worth their salt would know that that was far from the case. Unfortunately for Draco, he was not a Black and despite his mother's best intentions he was never going to be befitting of one.

Walburga and Cygnus Black were siblings; both had a few screws loose, Walburga especially. This would not have even come into the question of what Draco's simple mind believed but the main reason that Narcissa Black had married Lucius Malfoy was because her mother, Druella Rosier who ruled her father with an iron fist demanded it. Narcissa was a mere year younger than Lucius, however, the man was someone whom she never wished to see at family gatherings, let alone marry.

Lucius was in fact Narcissa's great-aunt's son, the great-aunt that was often forgotten as she had been blasted off of the tapestry for splitting up with Abraxas, Lucius' father, Genevieve Malfoy nee Black. Genevieve was the older sister of Dorea Potter who was Harry Potter's grandmother and the younger sister of Narcissa's grand-father, Pollux. Because of this relatively close blood relation between Lucius and Narcissa, conceiving Draco had been difficult and once it had been done, husband and wife lived in separate quarters. However, their inbreeding which both Narcissa and Genevieve had been so worried about had manifested in a simple mind and weak magic in Draco, he really wasn't anything special much to the ire of his father.

However, as Draco wrote his letter to his father just after Halloween in 1991, he did not think of any of these things, despite being taught politics by his mother and about the Blacks, Draco did not retain any of the information. Instead he focused on being a whiny, Pureblood bigot, much to Lucius' pleasure and Narcissa's dismay.

Dear Father,

Severus has been very mean to me, he has put me in detention for the entire year, and it is not my fault that the blood-traitor Weasley couldn't make the Potion right, it's his fault! Why did Weasel get away with it, and I get detention? It's not fair, father!

The blood-traitor Black got onto the Quidditch team along with Scarhead (thank you for giving me that idea for a nickname, Father), how did they even get onto the team; she's not even a proper Pureblood, if she is even a Pureblood and he's just a mere half-blood? I should have been on the team, I'm much better than them! I am, I have been playing for years, she hadn't even played before Hogwarts!

I have been doing very well in my studies especially in Astronomy but in Potions it is not going so well, given that I have been forced to carry on working with the red-haired idiot. I am sure that I will do well in my end of year exams. I am sure to get first place, and do you proud.

The good news is that clever Mudblood, Granger in Gryffindor still has no friends, it's a shame that what happened with the troll on All Hallows Eve did not leave her dead.

Oh, you must have heard about the Troll incident, Father, at the Ministry but knowing that old goat, Dumbledore, he might have hidden it. It was Halloween and I was eating and toasting in the Greatest Holiday of all with some friends when Quirell ran in and fainted, there was a troll in the castle.

Apparently, the Mudblood had been called a 'Know-it-all with no friends' by Weasley, just about the only decent thing that he's ever done, I had half a mind to congratulate him. Anyway, she was in the girl's bathroom when the troll rushed in, Weasley who had been forced to go back by Thomas- another Mudblood to help Granger locked it in with her and ran off. She would have died, if not for that stupid Gryffindor Quartet- _The Famous Four_, they're calling them.

As if a half-blood and three blood-traitors are any good, anyway, they saved her from being clobbered to death by the troll, they earned Gryffindor 20 points for "sheer dumb luck" as the old witch who is the Head of Gryffindor House called it.

I told Black that she should not go around saving Mudbloods, it brings a bad impression on our family and she told me impertinently that she was going to do as she pleased and that we were allies, it did not mean that I get to order her around. So I put her in her place, I told her that the Malfoys were the superior family.

Anyway, I have to go, more Mudbloods to get into trouble.

Your son and heir,

Draconis Lucius Malfoy- Slytherin

Lucius was in his study when he read this letter. Dobby the House-elf who was hiding in his study was privy to his reactions as he read the missive from his son.

Lucius Malfoy was an opportunist which is why he allowed for an alliance with Alexandra Black, it would be beneficial for if the girl died with no heirs. The Headship of the Family would revert to Draco, or so he thought, conveniently forgetting about the existence of Aurora Sinistra who would have the better claim.

Dobby watched as Lucius grimaced then smiled evilly, then groaned and finally paled as he read what his son had just said to Ally Black, that was not good, that was not good at all.

He hoped that he could get back in the Black girl's good books by sending her money; it seemed to work brilliantly with Fudge, smiling happily, he rewarded himself by using the Cruciatus on Dobby who he had just called into the room. It was going to be fine.

Meanwhile within the walls of Hogwarts, several shadowy figures were meeting up in secret to plot and plan, things had been going on for far too long, something needed to be done, and fast.

The first shadowy figure spoke, "Do you think that that will be possible to arrange?"

"Of course," another replied, "If you give me enough time I can arrange it, perhaps though that should be used another year, after all we don't want to put all of our eggs into one basket now do we?"

The others chuckled before another figure spoke, "So the first part can be done."

"Of course, no one will suspect us; they will never assume that we can think of such a thing, besides it's not our typical thing."

"There will be a fall-out you do realise," a pragmatic voice broke in.

"They deserve it, you know that I have a lot of patience but this has pushed me over the edge."

"Remind me never to annoy a Ravenclaw, you guys are vicious," another voice commented.

"As if you Hufflepuffs' are truly as naïve as you make out," the previous voice commented.

"I believe that we are done, good luck everyone, and I have the perfect way to finance it, apt isn't it," the second voice that had spoken dismissed the meeting and the figures all melted away to different parts of the castle where no one noticed anything was amiss.

After all how could they, they were all so oblivious...


	15. Year 1- Revenge is oh so sweet

**Disclaimer: I still don't own HP. **

**A/N: OMG! I am so sorry for not managing to update sooner but I was suffering from a bit of writer's block. But anyway, here's the next chapter, the prank is courtesy of my friend who suggested it, so thanks.**

**So anyway, I have a new poll up so please vote in it. Also guys please keep the R&R's coming, they really do help me write.**

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**RAfan2421- I do try my best to make things realistic, looking back there would be things that I would change, but now it's a part of a story that people seem to like so I'll leave it for now. A lot of the chapter on Harry's money and inheritance won't come into play for a while. I do try my best with the spelling and grammar but sorry for any small mistakes you have come across. I hope that you continue to enjoy this story and others.**

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**ThatGalledeAcrossTheStreet- Being a huge fan of Greek Mythology I was aware of the relation between the two, but not being a PJ fan I do not fully understand the reference. However, there is not any connection to the Greek gods apart from the name, they are not siblings, they are mated phoenixes. I hope this clarifies some of your queries and I hope you keep reading and enjoying this fic.**

**Now on with the story...**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 14- Revenge is oh so sweet…<strong>

The first Quidditch match of the year was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin, Ally privately thought that Albus Dumbledore did that on purpose, she supposed that she could convince Narcissa to pressure Lucius into changing that but she thought that that was a waste of leverage. Not to mention it wasn't even that important, so it was not worth the trouble or the wasting of a favour. On second thought Ally had realised that Narcissa probably would not need any leverage at all but it was just going to be a waste of both of their times, Albus Dumbledore was a stubborn old man.

Draco was an absolute waste of time as an ally and spy so Ally had carefully prepared a memory potion that was unbreakable that she had created many years ago with Jenna (okay, that may have stretched the truth slightly, Jenna had done most of the work but Ally had helped) that was not well known (as in only Unspeakables knew of it). This potion would work in subtle ways and remove any knowledge from Draco's brain about his role as a spy. He would know about the Malfoy-Black alliance but nothing more, unfortunately this did not however stop him from being a huge pain in the butt. But Ally supposed that she couldn't have everything.

Draco had complained excessively how two completely untalented individuals were allowed on the Gryffindor team and he wasn't. He happened to make this comment near Megan Jones; the Hufflepuff was easily the calmest of the three cousins, but even she had an explosive temper when provoked, that day she had already been hit on three times by some of the foulest Slytherins in the school, so she was in a terrible mood. This made her wand hand trigger happy, so her reaction was a little over the top.

"Malfoy, the reason you will never be on that team is because you have no talent and you made your Head of House infertile," she had used the body-bind on him and left him to be kicked around by Professor Kettleburn's giant millipedes. No one could really feel sorry for him, not even his gorillas.

Since then Draco had been out for blood, he did not dare cross the three cousins for Tracey, Megan and especially Daphne had quickly developed a reputation of being good with a wand, instead he was prophesising Ally's and Harry's downfall in their first Quidditch game. Along with lewd comments about Ally, what didn't occur to him was that he was making those comments about his cousin. A cousin that frankly did not really give two hoots about this sort of thing.

Ally had actually laughed, "Well, let him say whatever he wants, he forgets that I'm just 11."

Draco was massively disappointed, Potter scored 9 goals out of Gryffindor's 15 and Black had caught the snitch meaning that Slytherin had lost by 310 points. It was a disaster and to make it worse all of the Slytherin's were shooting him dirty looks for calling them bad players (this was of course an insinuation). No, Draco Malfoy was not a having a good few days.

Little did Draco know that things weren't going to get much better for him anytime soon for he had messed with those with power and imagination, something that was not a good thing by any measure.

One week before Christmas was upon them the _Famous Four_ as Malfoy was often heard sneering had already worked out from Hagrid that the thing that was being hidden underneath the Cerberus named Fluffy was something that concerned Nicholas Flamel. Ally's fears hadn't been unfounded as she had immediately worked out what it was the Fluffy was protecting, for now they would do nothing after all the stone did not seem to be in any immediate danger.

The list of those who were planning to stay the holidays had gone up, Malfoy had sneered when he had seen Harry's name scrawled as one of the first of those staying.

"Well, well, Perfect Potter isn't going home for Christmas," Draco had sneered.

Before Harry could respond, Ally had walked forward and casually placed her name on the list, "You would do well to remember, _cousin_," for the last word she had sneered just as well as Draco ever did, "that not all of us are friendless and have no choice but to go and run behind Daddy's coat-tails."

Draco's come back hadn't been particularly witty but had intrigued Harry, "At least my Daddy, I mean loves me, that's more than you can say." Draco's response would have had more sting to it if he hadn't blushed when he slipped up and accidentally called his father 'daddy'.

As Draco had stalked off with his two rather large shadows following him, the group that had met in the shadows months before solidified their plans; it was going to be an interesting last week of term.

The day the Hogwarts Express was going to leave was bittersweet to start with, Neville and Susan were going home and Ally and Harry were staying despite Susan asking them to come home with her. Their reasons were entirely different, Ally did not want to spend Christmas with Susan because she could see rising tensions in their friendship and Harry did not wish to go for he was still uncomfortable without Ally around, not that he'd ever admit that. The Christmas celebrations at Hogwarts were certainly grand and something new.

The holiday season started with a prank, not a Gred and Forge Weasley prank which was generally amateurish but a full-on Marauder-style one. The morning had started off unassumingly but by breakfast it had become obvious that something was different, there was a magical tingle in the air.

Albus Dumbledore was alarmed, he had hoped that by Christmas the Granger girl and Weasley boy would have managed to become great friends with Harry Potter, instead the boy had become close to some of the most politically powerful families in British Wizarding society and in Black's case, the world. Albus did not like it one bit, he could slowly see that his plans were unravelling and he did not like it. His staff members were also questioning him and he could find no viable way to stop the friendship of the Quartet, even the young Malfoy boy seemed at best to irritate Potter and not be his bitter enemy like he had hoped. No, Albus Dumbledore was not happy.

Ally knew that Albus Dumbledore did not like being blind-sided and she also knew that she and her friends and allies were blindsiding him purposefully and he had not even noticed. Ally bit slightly vindictively into the apple that she was eating she looked around the Great Hall; the thought of Dumbledore was enough to bring out her Slytherin side.

There was a buzz; everyone was excited for the Yuletide cheer. She could see friends in all the houses, there was Theodore Nott, who was Melody's boyfriend's younger brother, who had been befriended by Ally to be an ally but nothing more. Nott had leaned over to mention something to Malfoy and had Ally not been searching for it she wouldn't have seen him slip something into Draco's goblet. When their eyes met, he nodded once, even if it was rather curt- the plan was in motion.

Ally's gaze turned next to the Ravenclaws, Daphne and Tracey both had their Ice Princess masks on but she could see the anticipation in their eyes which did not fully mask their excitement (unlike Ally they were yet to master the art of a complete poker face). Ally then met Blaise's eyes, he was her oldest friend, and she loved him like a brother and Emerald was like an aunt to her. Blaise's chocolate brown eyes were filled with mirth for what was to come, but there was also relief that someone was looking out for him.

Looking over at the Hufflepuff table, Ally saw Cedric and Megan laughing and exchanging jokes, no one apart from Ally saw the forced cheerfulness that Megan was displaying, the plan was going well. Megan caught Ally's gaze as she looked over Cedric's shoulder and shot a grin at the Black, Megan was the most reserved of the three cousins but over the last few months she had really come into her own. Hogwarts had done her a lot of good.

Next Ally looked at the staff table, this was interesting, she mused and nudged Harry who was sitting next to her to look at the staff and he did so.

"Okay, what's so strange about that," Harry whispered as he looked at Ally.

"You don't see it? Dumbledore is worried, it's not obvious but he's distracted, Snape isn't sure what to make of this, he can tell that something's brewing about to begin. McGonagall is interesting, she is Dumbledore's woman through and through but she also cares for you, not me, but you, she is concerned as to why Dumbledore is so interested in you as a student," Ally explained.

Harry rolled his eyes, "I think you're reading too much into it," he responded.

Susan gasped, "Blasphemy, no one ever should question Ally, she's too damn good at her job."

"Trust us on that," Neville put in, "honestly, my uncle loves her as does Blaise's mum and the two of them are some of the best judges of character."

Only Ally heard the sarcasm in Susan's tone and the bitterness in Neville's. She had known them for too long and had enough training to read into these comments and see them for what they were.

"Okay, okay, let's get back on topic," Ally didn't betray any of her inward feelings with her tone as she turned to finally face her own table.

The Gryffindor table was as boisterous as ever, the Weasley twins were successfully distracting Hermione whilst Ally quickly muttered a charm under her breath over Hermione's goblet and Neville did the same to Ron's. The Weasley was so busy scoffing down the food that he didn't notice.

The plan had commenced.

Precisely 5 minutes before breakfast was going to be cleared up Ron Weasley stood up, his appearance was as scruffy as ever but he got up with a spring in his step as he skipped up to the staff table stopping directly in front of Albus Dumbledore.

"What can I help you with Mr Weasley," the Headmaster inquired, his blue eyes still maintained their customary twinkle.

Ron stared for a few seconds before responding, "Well, I wanted to know if student-teacher relationships were frowned on?"

Albus nearly choked in shock, he thought that Ron would be perfectly okay with the money and the Muggleborn, "Ummm, not as such-"

"Great," Ron smiled before reaching over the table and placing his lips on top of the Headmaster's.

There was an eerie silence in the Hall as the staff and student body alike were gobsmacked, no one was laughing until Ron pulled away and they looked at the shell-shocked expression on Albus' face. The man looked like someone had just stolen all his lemon-drops.

Then to add insult to injury Ron turned and faced Draco Malfoy, "You know Draco dearest, you kiss much better than him, I hope that we are better old gays than Dumbledore," by this point most of the Hall could no longer swallow their mirth.

Draco watched as Ron came closer to him and pulled him into a kiss, one that was passionate and without any censorship, which looked horrifying for many reasons including the fact that they were merely eleven. Severus Snape was trying very hard to keep his stoic mask on. He could not believe it; his godson was kissing one of the worst enemies he had and what was worse in the middle of the Great Hall. This came, Severus mused, just as he thought the boy could sink no further, and then lo and behold he did.

No one had noticed but Theodore Nott had been taking pictures from the beginning of the prank to give to Ally to keep, he couldn't believe how well this plan was working.

When Weasley and Malfoy split apart the Hall expected that to be it, but to their shock this is when Hermione Granger got involved, no one noticed the mischievous looks on the pranksters' faces as the next stage of their prank came into fruition.

"But Draco," the petulance was obvious in Granger's voice, Blaise thought as he watched the uppity Muggleborn with a superiority complex strut her way over to Draco and Ron. By this point the entire Hall was watching this spectacle.

Ally was one individual who was not paying true attention the prank instead; she was observing the staff's reaction. Binns' looked bored, Trelawney drunk (although there was nothing new there), Vector, Hooch, Aurora and Martin all looked amused and partially nostalgic (Ally supposed they remembered stories of the Marauder days, seeing that they looked a little too young to be a part of that batch), Snape looked amused, Hagrid and McGonagall shocked and Dumbledore furious. But what interested Ally was Quirell's look, he looked indifferent but when he looked at Malfoy he seemed disgusted. Ally said nothing but filed that away for future reference.

"Don't you love me Draco, I love you," Granger was now saying batting her eyelids in what she thought was a flirtatious way.

Draco's response was the most alarming to their raptured audience, "Of course I love you my little Hermy," he almost cooed, "but I love Ronnie too, maybe we can all get married and live happily ever after?"

To their shock the two Gryffindor's nodded, so the Slytherin and two Gryffindor's shared a loving hug and then a kiss. As soon as that was done, the spells and potions wore off revealing a shocked trio.

"Wait till I tell my father," Draco wailed as he ran out of the room.

"Ugh, Fred, George I'm telling Mum," Ron yelled as he too sprinted from the Great Hall.

Fred and George surreptitiously glanced in Ally's direction and saw that for the first time in a while the younger student was smiling, an honest and true smile, something that had gotten increasingly rare since Melody had told her not to come home for Christmas.

Hermione was the last to go, "I love you Draco, come back," with that being said, she ran out after the two Purebloods.

20 minutes later the Great Hall had finally been cleared out, only Ally and her friends had remained, Theo had left after chucking the magical camera back to its owner and Ally had wished him a "Happy Christmas" before he left.

"That was better than I anticipated," Daphne smirked, her Slytherin traits shining out.

"Yes, well hopefully Granger now has a new crush," Blaise commented as he hugged Ally.

"I'm sure cousin Draco and Lucius will be very pleased by this turn of events," Ally remarked as she pushed away from Blaise.

"Oh, that's a great mental image, isn't it," Megan spoke up, her eyes glittering in amusement as she and her cousins gave Harry and Ally hugs, those were the only two staying from their network of friends and allies apart from the Weasley twins.

"Indeed," Ally smiled as she and Harry waved them all goodbye, cheers of "Merry Christmas" followed them.

George slung an arm around Ally's shoulders as Fred did the same to Harry.

"This is going-"

"To be a great-"

"Christmas," Harry and Ally chorused much to the upset of the twins, who pouted.

"That was our-"

"Trick," Feed completed. The twins' pouted petulantly at having their favourite joke hijacked.

Ally smiled and reached over to kiss them both on the cheek, "I'm sure you'll live," she stuck her tongue out at the twins before skipping off leaving three boys behind.

"She's really something, huh," Harry commented.

"Yeah," George commented wistfully staring interestedly at Ally's retreating back, watching as she fell into easy conversation with Hagrid.

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><p><strong>REVIEW- please!<strong>

**Also please vote in the poll, thanks.**

**Ally xx**


	16. Year 1- 'Tis the season to be jolly

**Disclaimer: I don't own HP or any of the franchise, I only own my OCs and ideas**

**A/N: Sorry guys, I know its been a while but real life has been merciless. So here's the next chapter. Also don't forget to vote in the poll. Read and Review guys...**

**NicoleR85****- I'm glad that you loved it. Here's the anticipated update**

**laissankari- here's the update. Enjoy.**

**dream lighting- thanks for the welcome back. It's good to be back. Well, the thing with Neville and Susan will be coming to a head by the end of the First Year. As for Padfoot and Dumbledore, well we'll just have to see.**

**magitech- yeah, I found the same issue with dealing with canon Draco, so I thought that I'd be truly mean to him. But this doesn't mean that he's going to be any less of an arse to the characters.**

**mwinter1- I'm hoping that this chapter will tide you over.**

**god of all- I'm glad you like this story. Here's the next instalment**

**Penny is wise- thanks, the prank was something that I felt was warranted because no matter how 'perfect' Ally seems to be, she isn't. She too can sometimes be cruel.**

**Snowball1982- I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, here's the next one**

**Lord Mortensen- well, thanks. I hope that you enjoy this next chapter.**

**Blueluver5000- well hopefully you'll love this one too.**

**Guest- I'm glad that it was intense, I intended it to be.**

**timefreak- I know that Ally appears to be a Mary Sue, but she is a Black, the darkness of the family didn't avoid her completely. You'll see the imperfections appearing sooner rather than later. also she is incredibly stubborn, she never thinks that she is in the wrong even if she is.**

**Enjoy all!**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 15- 'Tis the season to be jolly…<strong>

Christmas morning arrived with a flurry of snow, Gryffindor Tower was almost deserted. The Tower was warm but there were only the four Weasley brothers, Harry and Ally for the season. The Weasleys were the first to wake up, the anticipation of receiving Christmas gifts was too much for them to bear, and consequently Harry was also woken up. He had not been best pleased.

Ally was a light sleeper but did not particularly like Christmas as a holiday, the time for family always left her feeling a little hollow and empty on the inside. As a child Ally was always left alone with a hospital room for company for Melody liked spending Christmas at Hogwarts and later with her flavour of the month or in some cases, week. Ally could distantly remember the few Christmases that she had spent with her godmother; Jenna had loved Christmas and after her death Ally had started to resent the holiday even more.

Ally did get gifts but she was never much of a Christmas person, but she did like the decorations and shopping for gifts. Mostly her Christmases were dismal affairs or filled with the bickering of family members, which invariably led to curses and hexes being thrown and given her family background this could have been potentially fatal (Ally still remembered Christmas of 1983 with a grimace, that had not been a good year for some, but it was one of the better ones that she had celebrated during her childhood).

"Wake up," George Weasley bounded into the boys dormitory, as Ally had been the only girl she hadn't wanted to sleep in the girls section alone so had commandeered the empty fourth year boys' dormitory.

Ally groaned, "George Fabian Weasley, didn't your brothers ever tell you I am not a Christmas person." Charlie and Bill had both found out the hard way that Ally was not a Christmas morning person.

George grinned at her cheekily, "Yep."

"And you still decided to wake me up," Ally asked incredulously, Ally's temper was not one that anyone really tested. They feared her temper, for she was a redhead who kept a close guard on her emotions, and if anything it made her more volatile.

"I love you," George offered weakly, handing her a mug of steaming coffee.

"Fine, I'm up, but only because you brought me coffee," Ally pouted at the older redhead adorably.

Just then Fred's head popped up in the doorway along with Harry, "Well, you wouldn't come to us so we came to you, Percy the Prefect and Ronnie have already gone down to breakfast so I think we are good to go."

Harry stared at Fred in astonishment unlike Ally he had never heard either of the twins speak that much without digressing into twin-speech.

"Okay, okay, I give, let's do presents," Ally smiled as she finished the last of her coffee and clambered out of the bed, she didn't notice the three boys staring at her. Ally was wearing a lacy camisole and a pair of pale green short shorts that exposed her creamy legs, the boys were in awe, Ally's robes normally did a good job of hiding her developing assets.

Fred shook himself out of his stupor and plopped down on the ground by the pile of presents next to Ally who gave him a quick hug.

"Merry Christmas, Gred," Ally smiled, chucking him a present from the massive pile, the package was lumpy and evidently Fred knew what it was, a Weasley jumper.

"Well, she must think we're stupid," George commented as he opened a similar package, both jumpers were gold but had scarlet lettering a 'G' on George's and an 'F' on Fred's.

"We're not stupid-"

"We know that our names are-"

"Gred-"

"And Forge," that being said the twins switched jumpers and promptly put them on.

"Come on, open your presents, Ally and Harrykins," Fred cajoled.

Ally rolled her eyes exasperatedly, she was not too fussed about the presents that had appeared but Harry appeared to be shocked, reaching over Ally smiled at him, "Happy Christmas, Harry, come on, open them."

The encouragement seemed to be all he needed for Harry started ripping into the packages with gusto, followed by the twins; Ally opened hers at a more mundane pace. Some would claim this was because she was a girl and slightly more mature.

It was just Ally's luck that the first gift that she opened was from Granger, Ally herself had sent Hermione a nice scarf because even she wasn't mean to people on Christmas. Granger apparently had no such qualms, Ally had received from her a book, not at all unsurprising, but the title was "A Muggle's Guide to the Wizarding World: How to teach Dummies Magic".

"Hey Fred," Ally called over to the more boisterous of the twins, "Look at the lovely gift Granger gave me."

"Ugh, she has bad taste-"

"She's going to feel so bad when-"

"She realises-"

"Just who she's made an enemy of," George completed the sentence smiling at Ally who placed the book in her trunk.

Harry sighed, "Well she's been slightly nicer to me, and she got me a box of Every Flavour Beans."

Harry was shocked when Ally chuckled.

"What did you do," Harry asked, not really sure he wanted to know what his best friend had done.

Fred and George were at the edge of their seats in anticipation, they had known Ally for years, she had been great friends with their older brothers, both of whom had loved the younger girl like a favourite sister, and they knew that she had a cracking sense of humour. They were physically bouncing up and down in unrestrained excitement.

"Hey George, remember over the summer a few years ago when I asked you and your two oldest brothers to send me any horrible looking Every Flavour Bean you could find?"

Both of the twins nodded, wondering where the first year was going with this.

"Well I collected some myself and I put all of these beans into a box and packaged them like the company does and I sent them to our esteemed leader and put on the tag the name 'Cornelius Fudge', the old coot's going to be so incensed that he is going to block everything the Minister wants. This means that the Wizengamot may finally be able to get some of Amelia's laws through."

"You are evil," Harry commented smiling.

Ally smiled wickedly before opening the rest of her gifts. It was a good haul, from Lucius Malfoy she had received some formal robes, Draco had sent her some Seeker gloves which she had checked over for any curses (there were 4, they were obviously Borgin and Burkes' produce and Draco obviously wanted to hurt her), from Narcissa she had gotten a beautiful goblin made jewellery set. From the oldest Weasley brothers she had gotten a beautiful chess set from Bill and from Charlie she had gotten a dragon-scale bracelet. The twins had chipped together to get her a casket of Butterbeer.

"Gred, Forge," Ally rushed over to them, hugging them tightly, "you two know me so well, thanks for the Butterbeer. Although Firewhiskey is my drink of choice."

Harry had no idea what Firewhiskey was but from the expression on Fred's and George's faces it was probably something that Ally should not be drinking. Especially if it was anything like Muggle's Scotch.

Then came the gifts from Ally's rather extensive family, well the one's that spoke to her, of which there were still quite a few. Her great-aunt Cassiopeia had sent her a Black family heirloom; a beautiful onyx necklace that was given the oldest daughter of each generation, Ally was the only daughter so she inherited it.

Then there was the gift from Andromeda Tonks, the two of them did not necessarily get on as well as Ally and Narcissa did, but nonetheless they were still family. Andy had sent her a new Muggle style dress, one that she would grow into over the next few years; it was certainly something that most men would drool over. Ally privately thought that Andromeda had very good tastes, even if she was slightly harder to get along with.

Then there was Lucretia Prewett nee Black, Molly Weasley's mother, but the woman was most definitely a Black through and through. The older woman did not particularly like Ally, but as the primary heir to the Black family fortune she had to acknowledge her and send her gifts in accordance to her status. This year Ally was surprised to see something that was actually going to be helpful, a pair of beautiful gloves, ones that Pure-blooded women wore to balls and a pair of dainty glass slippers.

"I like those, very Cinderella-esque," Harry commented laughing very slightly.

"Don't let my Aunt Lucretia hear you say that, she would be horrified," Ally laughed, although not as bad as some members of the Black family, Lucretia was still a blood purist.

Fred grimaced, "Yes, mother is still upset about being disowned by her mother-"

"Grandma Lucretia is a legend in our humble opinion, even we can't annoy our mother that much," George finished the sentiment.

Ally chuckled, "I will be sure to let her know when I see her next. Although she probably would snap at me, she doesn't particularly like me."

The next gift was from Callidora Longbottom, she was the second oldest Black alive after Cassiopeia and as such very well-respected. She was Augusta Longbottom's mother-in-law and an impressive witch, much like many of the other Black's both before and after her. Callidora actually approved of her great-grandson and Ally very much, but age and hatred of Augusta kept her away from them most of the time, but they always got good gifts from her.

This year was no different, it was a picture frame with a picture within, the picture was moving a depicted a younger Ally, about 6 years of age next to Arcturus, Cassiopeia, Aurora, Genevieve, Jenna, Callidora, Pollux, Narcissa and Lucretia- all the Blacks that were alive at the time and not imprisoned were depicted there, it was a rare photo and one that Ally immediately loved. She did notice the fact that Andromeda was missing and sighed, some things were just too hard to fix and required too many bridges that had been long burnt down.

"I see that your Aunt Callidora is just as great with the gifts as ever," Fred pointed out astutely.

Ally simply nodded before turning to face a shell-shocked Harry who only had one last gift to open and was watching the large pile that Ally still had, "You know, I don't like Christmas, but it's not because I don't get presents, I do, it's just that a lot of people give me gifts so that I'll help them out later and it does not substitute for a happy or carefree childhood."

The following present was from Lucius Malfoy's mother, Genevieve Black formerly Malfoy. The two women were relatively close, and Genevieve respected the younger woman for all that she had done over the years. She had sent Ally the Black family-tree book, which unlike the tapestry could not be edited; it showed every person in the world with Black blood in it.

Smiling slightly Ally got back to her present mountain, there was the one that was a joint gift from Aurora, Septima and Alexis, the three professors had chipped together to get her a large family tapestry which was self-updating the tapestry was portable and could fit in her trunk quite easily, but the one thing that she noticed was that above her own name, her mother's was flickering. The name could not be seen which was a bit of problem as she really wanted to know that answer. Sighing, she put the tapestry away and set about to open her next gifts.

Melody had sent her a small Wizarding camera which would take brilliant pictures and give high quality pictures in return, but Ally could tell that the gift wasn't new given the dents and the monogrammed 'Melody McKinnon'. But she didn't say anything, her cousin never really gave her good gifts and Ally didn't bother to mind. Life was too short to spend it crying over something that she couldn't really change or influence.

The final gifts were from her friends. Blaise and Emerald had gotten her a picture album of all her years before Hogwarts, this was the first time that she had seen all of them together and it was a great gift. Daphne, Megan and Tracey had gotten her a winter robe. Neville had gotten her a gift certificate to Gladrags so that she could choose her own clothes, and Susan and Amelia had given her a small portable radio. Harry had gotten her some chocolate frogs; all in all it was a good year.

"Okay, I'm done, open your last one," Ally urged, she had already spotted the cursive writing on the label and knew that it was from Dumbledore, but knew better than to say anything about it, because if it was what she thought it was then it was a good idea to keep it rather than be suspicious of it. There was no point in being too paranoid, she didn't want to become too much like Moody, she was much too young for that level of paranoia.

The lumpy parcel contained a thin, gossamer material, a cloak of sorts. Ally's guess had been correct, it was an invisibility cloak and if Harry's inheritance had been any clue, she was pretty sure that it was _the_ invisibility cloak. It was infinitely valuable and Ally knew that she had to make sure that Harry kept it carefully; her senses as Lady Fate were telling her that this cloak would be important in the future.

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><p>Ally smiled as she looked around the table, the Great Hall's tables had been vanished and instead had been replaced by a large round table given the small number of people staying over the holidays.<p>

Ally had specifically chosen to put Harry opposite her cousin, Aurora, this was so that Albus Dumbledore would have little chance of trying to invade Harry's thoughts. It had not escaped her observation that only three members of staff were missing from the Christmas meal. Cuthbert Binns, for the obvious reason that ghosts did not eat, Sybil Trelawney and Qurinus Quirrel. But there was little Ally could do right now, so she settled for just having fun. Or at least as much fun as someone of her disposition could have.

They had spent the day having snow ball fights and exchanging stories of their childhood, well the Weasleys' talked whilst Ally and Harry had merely listened. Ally knew that this was because Harry did not want to talk about his less than idyllic childhood. Ally, herself would not talk about her Christmases because they weren't all that great, they often deviated to fights.

Now as they all sat around the table, tucking into the delicious feast, Ally watched with growing unease at the sight before her. She couldn't help but think morbidly about what was to come, her senses were tingling and she had a feeling that this was the calm before the storm, and it put her on edge.

"Miss Black," a hand was waving a brightly coloured Christmas cracker in her direction; Ally lifted her face to see Professor Alexis Martin smiling at her holding the other end of the cracker. The Ancient Runes Professor was smiling cheerfully.

"Oh sorry, Professor," Ally apologised, as she reached for the cracker and pulled, it exploded in a cloud of bright orange smoke, leaving in its wake a baseball cap in purple and an Ancient Runes guide. Ally snorted at the irony and pushed the guide towards the Professor and put on the hat herself.

"Do you have an interest in Ancient Runes," the Professor enquired as she took the book from the 1st year student.

Ally Black scrutinised the Professor, taking in the young woman's visage. There was something 'off' about the woman, but she sensed that it was nothing sinister, so she left well enough alone- they were all able to keep secrets. Merlin only knew how many she kept; she couldn't really judge the older woman without being a hypocrite.

Ally shrugged, "I honestly don't know, Professor. I am sure it is an interesting field, but I have seldom come across people who have studied it and who are willing to talk about it," Ally wasn't sure why she was searching out a conversation with this Professor but her heart was telling her to.

Harry smiled as he noticed that Ally finally seemed to have gotten some life into her, the younger girl had seemed to lose enthusiasm as the day had gone on. But now her red hair was shining and her emerald green eyes were sparkling, she looked beautiful. The black haired Gryffindor shook his head to clear those thoughts; he couldn't be having those sorts of feelings for his best-friend. Even if they were contracted to marry one another someday.

Alexis Martin was observing the young witch in front of her carefully, it was obvious to her that in Ally Black's young life she had seen much and it reflected in the way that she talked, but she was still very much an 11 year-old girl desperate to try and fit in. As they spoke of the ancient tongues and symbols that made up Alexis' subject, the older woman realised that when Miss Black got to third year she would make a very good student in Ancient Runes. Alexis smiled, as for the first time in a long while, teaching finally felt worth it.

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><p>Ally watched with growing trepidation in the days after Christmas as Harry withdrew further into his shell, he didn't eat and didn't do anything else.<p>

Finally on the 28th of December, Ally had had enough.

"Okay, that's it!"

Harry Potter looked up as he came face to face with his best friend. Ally had plopped down next to him in the freezing cold snow wearing nothing but her short school skirt and a white blouse. She was shivering very slightly as she sat next to him, glaring.

"Sorry," Harry asked, he honestly had no clue what he had done, and the glare was scaring him if he was being honest.

"I refuse to believe that you are that stupid," Ally told the other Gryffindor, rolling her eyes, her patience wearing thin. Harry, never having really seen Ally's temper did not see the warning signs.

"What," he asked honestly confused.

"You are sitting here moping around, but you refuse to share what you are thinking, it's infuriating," Ally snapped.

Harry grimaced, he hadn't noticed that others had been looking at him with increasing worry as the days had gone on and he had retreated further into his shell.

"I can't tell you," Harry muttered apologetically, at her glare he quickly backpedalled, "but I can show you, tonight after curfew, if you are willing?"

Ally smiled very slightly, "Oh, honey, surely you know by now that danger is my forte," she raised an eyebrow and was rewarded by Harry smiling.

Harry could not help but think that he had just dodged a bullet, it was a relief. He really didn't want to see Ally's temper fray, because he treaded to think what would happen if someone as powerful as her did lose control.

That night Ally crept out of the 4th year boys' dormitory and snuck into the 1st year ones, Ron Weasley was snoring loudly and Harry was sitting up in bed. The black haired boy slipped out of bed and pulled the invisibility cloak off his trunk and crept forward and Ally followed until they were clear of the dorms and back in the common room.

"Thank Merlin you are so good at sneaking in, I thought for sure that we may have been caught," Harry exclaimed.

Ally rolled her eyes and slipped under the cloak, after Harry joined her, the two of them snuck into the darkened corridors, ignoring the Fat Lady's screeches of it being after curfew. Filch was nowhere to be seen and Peeves was surprisingly elsewhere, Ally had to breathe a sigh of relief.

"We're here," Harry muttered, throwing off the cloak, and standing in front of the seemingly empty room which only housed a gilded mirror.

Reading the inscription Ally was filled with dread, she knew what Harry and indeed what she would see if she looked into the Mirror of Erised. She suddenly realised the reason for Harry's bad mood, but right now there were more pressing matters to deal with, like the fact that she could sense someone else's presence in the room.

"Look it's my mum and dad, and the rest of my family," Harry told her happily, his smile fading slightly as he took in the expression that was on Ally's face.

Ally's smile was more of a grimace, "I am sure that you will see your family when you look into the mirror, but that is only for you to behold. I cannot see such a thing should I gaze at the glass."

"Ah, back again then, Mr Potter, I see you have brought Miss Black. Perhaps she understands what this mirror shows?"

Harry stared at the Headmaster in shock, before speaking, "It shows me my family, does that mean that they can come back to me?"

"Alas, Harry those who die cannot be returned to this plane of existence. Miss Black," the Headmaster turned his beady gaze to the young girl who intrigued him by seemingly melting into the background in comparison to her friends, "can you tell me what this mirror does?"

Ally sighed, she saw no way out of this, "This is a magical object known as the Mirror of Erised, it shows not our face but our heart's desire. Should you look at it you will see what you want the most above anything else."

Harry interrupted, "What do you see Headmaster?"

"I, I see myself holding a pair of thick woollen socks, one can never have enough socks," it occurred to Ally that the old man was lying because the twinkle in his eyes had dimmed, but Harry did not seem to notice it. "What about you, Miss Black, what do you see?"

Ally looked outwardly surprised, but inwardly she had already prepared herself for that question, she knew that the Headmaster had a motive for asking so she would give him a superficial answer, "Me, Professor? I see myself graduating from Hogwarts."

The old man seemed disappointed, and he was. Albus had been hoping that the young girl would have more sinister a desire but he was wrong. He had no reason to suspect a lie, and that perhaps was one of the biggest mistakes he would continually make, underestimating Ally Black. But then again, greater men than Albus Dumbledore had made the same mistake.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey guys don't forget to vote in the poll and review!**


	17. Year 1- Of Giants and their pets

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Harry Potter**

**A/N: Sorry guys, but chapter 17 has been replaced by this one, my friend uploaded the wrong chapter. So enjoy, I will be bulk uploading the next two chapters.**

**Please Read and Review.**

**Ally**

**Chapter 16- Of Giants and their pets:**

The weeks after Christmas went by fast and Harry and Ally did not look for the Mirror of Erised, despite Harry's attempts at getting the girl to change her mind. By mid-March the newest problem facing the four was the fact that Susan, Neville and Harry were convinced that Snape was after the Philosopher's Stone, Ally was unsure, even after they had overheard Snape apparently threatening Quirrell, she had a feeling that something was wrong. The others refused to listen to her. And Ally was more than willing to let them ignore her, after all she did not want a blow-out with her friends, even if she was sure that Snape wasn't to blame.

"I'm sure that Snape is going to wear Quirrell down sooner or later, we need to do something about it," Susan looked at the other redhead, hoping to get through to her stubborn friend.

Ally rolled her eyes flippantly, "Well, Quirrell has lasted this long, he can manage a bit longer."

Neville sighed; he knew better than most how stubborn Ally was so he changed the topic of conversation, "I see that Harry took out the earring."

Harry smiled, "Yeah it wasn't really me, but I like the tattoo enough to keep it, Ally taught me how to hide it."

The said girl didn't seem to hear what Harry was saying; instead her gaze was focused on a shelf in the library that was behind Harry and Susan.

"Hagrid, what are you doing," Ally asked, hiding the mirth in her tone, the hulking half-giant was attempting the skulk between the shelves, a ridiculous idea given his abnormally large size.

"Nothin', jus' lookin'," he muttered before being chased out of the library by a duster brandishing Madam Pince for being too loud in her domain.

Ally scowled when the older woman gave them a warning look for just looking at the books that were sprawled across the table that they had commandeered.

"Are all your Goblin rebellions getting jumbled up right now," Susan groaned as she looked horrified at all the books and scrolls that they were meant to be perusing. As the months had gone by the girl's passion and love of the subject had faded away and given away to hatred.

Hermione Granger who had been unbearable since before February with her incessant revision for end of year exams scoffed derisively from the table a little distance away.

"This is why you should pay attention and make notes, Bones," Granger's voice had lost none of its sniffy quality.

"She doesn't need to make notes in Binns' lessons given the fact that he teaches nothing of worth," Ally told the other girl, tempering her tone carefully, distracting the bushy-haired girl from the fact that Neville had gotten up to check what Hagrid was looking at. Also, Ally did not feel like she actually wanted to defend Susan but she didn't want Madam Pince to kick them out of the library for allowing World War 3 to start amongst her beloved books.

Hermione scowled before turning back to her star charts, this subject was by far one of the ones that Granger found difficult. Astronomy was a subject that Ally found came to her naturally given her upbringing as a Black, she had learnt the constellations as a child may learn the alphabet, she would have willingly helped the other girl but she just found it too hard work to help the boastful brunette.

Neville had re-joined the group by this point and his eyes were wide with horror, "Dragons, he was looking at dragons."

Harry looked worried, "Hagrid did tell me on the way to Diagon Alley that he had always wanted a dragon."

"Now, you don't think…" Susan trailed off, looking worriedly at Ally, knowing that the other girl would know to what she was referring.

Ally rolled her eyes, "That's a pointless platitude and you know it."

Inwardly Ally was thinking something rather uncharacteristic for her; she was thinking of how much her friends actually valued her. Susan and Neville only really used her, never truly giving anything back; it was beginning to grate on her nerves.

Neville groaned, "But he-he-he-"

Ally smirked, reminding of those present of the Malfoy heir, not that they would ever mention that to her, "Of course he can. I am sure raising a dragon is just his cup of tea."

"But-but he lives in a wooden house," Harry spluttered.

"I am more concerned as to how he got a Dragon's egg to begin with, those are extremely rare, and something is not right about this," Ally mused out loud, before getting up, "Come on, we're going to see Hagrid."

The other three had no choice but to quickly pack up their bags and rush off after their friend, ignoring the scathing looks they got from Hermione, who was pursing her lips. Hermione could not believe how irresponsible those four were, and what irritated her most was the fact that they didn't even seem to work that hard but still got the grades.

Harry groaned as they finally caught up with Ally, the Black girl was unnaturally swift of foot, even more so than he was. That in itself was amazing given that he was very fast after running away from Dudley and his gang for many years.

Ally had knocked sharply on the door and easily stepped in once the door had been opened, completely bypassing Fang, who leapt instead on the unsuspecting Susan. Susan looked irked at the sheer amount of dog drool Fang was emitting.

"'Ello, you four," Hagrid's expression was wry, "I shoulda known tha' you would wor' i' out."

Ally rolled her eyes; the other three were staring awestruck at the rather small dragon that was blowing fire into the air just mere seconds after it had broken free of its shell. "Hagrid, you know that I am friendly with Charlie Weasley, you had the same look on your face just now as he does when he's excited. But I'm sorry; there is no way that we are going to allow you to keep a bloody dragon in your house."

Hagrid actually whimpered, "Bu'- bu'-"

"You live in a wooden house," Susan reminded their friend gently, she knew that Ally would not be much help in comforting the distraught man.

"Look, Hagrid, I'm sorry, we got to see a Dragon be born," Neville stated, "but now he has to go somewhere he can he happy."

Harry continued, "And the fact is that we are not equipped to keep a dragon in this school."

"Not to mention the fact that Norbert is actually a girl," Ally smirked wryly, "Norberta will be very happy with Charlie in Romania, that I promise you."

Hagrid burst into noisy sobs and Ally sighed before moving forward to comfort the bawling giant. The others looked around uncomfortably, not really sure with what to do with a sobbing giant.

Neville who had been looking out of the window stiffened, "Ally, we may have a problem."

Ally didn't look up from where she was sitting with Hagrid's large head on her lap, sobbing. "What is it?"

"Weasley saw the Dragon."

Harry face-palmed, now what were they going to do?


	18. Year 1- The stars shall be our guides

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I still don't own the HP franchise, that honour lies with JK Rowling. I do however own the plotline and my OCs.**

**A/N: Hey guys, many of you have probably read this chapter earlier, but my friend who was in charge of uploading my chapters, uploaded the wrong one. So this may be new to some but not to others. Please read it to remind yourself what happened. I will be uploading one more chapter pretty soon. So enjoy!**

**I am sorry for the late update but deadlines were killing me. Anyway, I hope this is a great Christmas gift to everyone. MERRY CHRISTMAS! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW AND VOTE IN THE POLL!**

**Now onto the reviewers:**

**dreamlighting- Hey, thanks for the welcome back. I am not 100% sure what to do with Dumbledore yet, because I have mixed reviews about him, but we'll see. As for Weasley and Granger- maybe there will be some redemption in the later books, but for now they may have pranks played on them.**

**god of all- thanks, I hope that you keep enjoying this story**

**Snowball1982- well, you are most welcome for the chapter. Hopefully this is up to your standards.**

**laissankari- I'm glad you like this story. Enjoy.**

**Penny is wise- thanks, hope that you find this chapter to be just as good.**

**blueluver5000- hope you love this chapter too**

**Grace Furey- Like I mentioned above, not really sure what I am going to do with Dumbledore yet. But I don't think that he and Ally will ever really get along, but later they may have an uneasy truce, but who knows? Well, as for the Christmas gifts, some may make a cameo in later chapters, but let's see. Enjoy this chapter. **

**So thanks to all who read and reviewed, keep it up. And keep voting in the poll.**

**Ally x**

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><p><span><strong>Chapter 17- The stars shall be our guides:<strong>

The few days after Ron's seeing Norberta went hurriedly, with letters being exchanged between the second oldest Weasley brother and Ally. It was decided that Ally and Harry would take the dragon up to the Astronomy tower with the permission of Aurora Sinistra and hand over the Ridgeback to Charlie and his friends. The only stipulation was that were they caught they would have to serve whatever punishment was handed out.

Ally thought that this agreement was more than fair.

Ally had a plan, but like all plans she had a feeling that not everything would pan out like she wanted it to, Neville had gotten bitten by the dragon and had to go to Pomfrey's to have it fixed. Ally had refused to, telling him that if he played with fire, it was an inevitability to get burnt. Susan had not taken that well, so was not talking to the other redhead.

"What are we going to do," Harry asked.

Ally had become the de facto head of their group, but even she didn't have all the answers. Harry was hoping that she had an answer to this question.

Ally looked speculatively at the Butterbeer that she was casually sipping as she dipped her toes into the Black Lake. She did not answer for a while before speaking, "We'll do what we have to."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Yes, I know. But why are you doing this? I got the impression that you are not a big fan of Hagrid's."

Ally was once again reminded of why she liked Harry as much as she did, he was very observant. Steeling herself, she began to talk, "It's not that I don't like him. It's more that I can't bring myself to be open with people I cannot fully trust. Hagrid is a well-meaning man. But he is simple. He sees in only blacks and whites and not in the shades of grey. He is Dumbledore's man through and through and that worries me."

Harry found himself in awe of the young girl in front of him; he could see that she would grow into a formidable woman. And maybe if he was lucky he'd be taken for the ride.

"Oi, Potter," Harry snapped out of his stupor to come face to face with Lee Jordan, "quit staring at Ally and have some fun with us."

Harry stood up (hoping against hope that he was not blushing, but by the looks of amusement on the twins' faces, he wasn't doing a very good job of it) before rushing to jump into the Black Lake with the twins, Lee and Ally. The next few hours were spent having a laugh in the Lake, with the squid for company. Although Lee wasn't best amused when the twins decided to take a picture of him getting throttled by the Giant Squid who he had managed to annoy.

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><p>The night to move the Ridgeback was fraught with problems from the very beginning as all of Gryffindor seemed to be out to stop Ally and Harry from getting their rest. First the twins had borrowed them forcibly to put dung bombs in a suit of armour in which they shoved Mrs Norris, Filch's cat. Then Hermione gave them an hour-long lecture on studying habits which only ended when Granger saw Ally fingering her wand eagerly waiting to use a jinx on her, even Granger wasn't stupid enough to push Ally too far. By the time Lavender had come over for help, Harry was very close to losing it.<p>

"How on earth are you not near breaking," Harry asked incredulously as they were finally left to their own devices.

"If you think that this is hard, then I am truly envious of you," Ally answered, she was being purposefully cryptic knowing that if he truly wanted to understand that he would read between the lines.

Harry didn't say anything else, instead he chose to pretend that he didn't notice the way that Ally had tensed up. But he did understand. Something that Neville and Susan who had known her for longer still could not do. But perhaps it was to be expected that Harry would understand given his own less than pleasant upbringing.

Finally it was time for them to go. Harry snuck upstairs to his dormitory and brought down the invisibility cloak.

"Come on," he whispered and Ally clambered under the cloak. The small space under the cloak was fine until the two had to start moving in tandem to walk out to Hagrid's hut. It was at this point that they realised how close their proximity to one another was.

Ally blushed as she almost collided with Harry's lips, hers brushing his ever-so-slightly. He was tomato red whilst she was marginally flushed (being a metamorphmagus did have some perks). Without saying anything Ally cast an expansion charm on the cloak, it stuck but barely.

"Okay, let's do this," Ally snuck out from under the cloak and rapped firmly on Hagrid's door.

At first there was no answer and then finally the door swung open to reveal a red-eyed Hagrid. Rolling her eyes Ally stepped in and groaned, Norberta was in the box she was meant to be in but it contained not the food she had asked to be transported with but a fluffy teddy.

"She needs her teddy," Hagrid sobbed upon seeing Ally's expression.

The Black girl sighed, she wasn't heartless, so she patted Hagrid on the back, and said softly, "Of course the teddy can go with her. I wouldn't have it any other way," allowing Hagrid one final good-bye, Ally shut the box and shrunk it so that Norberta could be easily transported. She just hoped that the dragon didn't decide that the teddy was food; somehow she knew that this was a bad hope to have.

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><p>Harry and Ally sat on the edge of the Astronomy Tower's balcony, reclining on their cloaks, neither minding the close proximity (their arms grazed one another's) as they star-gazed.<p>

"What's that one," Harry asked his best-friend, for he had worked out that Ally Black was his best-friend and he hers.

Ally smiled as she looked upon the stars, it had a peaceful notion to it, "That one is Sirius, the Dog Star."

Harry nodded his thanks, they had yet to cover planets, and they had only looked at the moons of the Muggle ones so far, "How do you know so much about them? I mean you told me that people in your family are fond of them, but why?"

Harry felt rather than saw Ally stiffen before turning her gaze to him.

"That's a story for another day; I promise that I will tell you, someday. Not today."

Harry nodded; the reason the friendship worked so well was because they both knew when to leave the other alone. He respected Ally's wishes and simply leaned back, she didn't, instead Ally had rushed over to the edge of the balcony's rails and was smiling.

Harry soon realised why, there was a young redheaded male flying towards them on a broomstick. He couldn't have been any older than 20 or 21 years of age, the red hair and freckles identified him as a Weasley.

"Hey Shorty," Charlie Weasley smiled as he eased himself off the broomstick onto the top of the tower.

To Harry's shock Ally did not seem to mind the endearment, instead she laughed as she moved forward to hug the older man. Charlie caught her mid-stride and twirled her around, Ally's laughter ringing out into the night.

"Don't give me that innocent look, Charles," Ally told the older man as soon as her feet hit the solid ground once more.

"I don't know what you are talking about," Charlie denied, his blue eyes were sparkling with hidden mischief.

Ally rolled her eyes, "Yes, well, you aren't as sneaky as you'd like to think, Weasley. You may have had a brief fling with Nymphadora in your early teens but you and Aurora were in the same year, there is something there."

Harry stifled his laugh that was threatening to burst out at Charlie's shocked expression, he knew that Ally frequently shocked people. He knew that Ally's cousin was young but he had not known that she was only perhaps 10 or 12 years older than them.

"Can't get anything past you," Charlie muttered, "so, who's your friend, kiddo?"

Ally growled under her breath at the endearment, "Charlie this is Harry," then turning to Harry, "Harry this is Charlie Weasley, the older brother of the twins, he's like a brother to me, and he's dating Aurora Sinistra."

There was a small clearing of the throat from behind them; Ally didn't jump, for she had felt the presence of her cousin there.

"Hello, Rory," Ally called over her shoulder, "you may as well come on out, Harry isn't about to tell anyone and Charlie isn't going to be here forever."

Harry turned to Charlie and quickly handed him the box, "Here, this is Norberta please try not to lose her, it will be such a shame. Nice to meet you Charlie, Professor," then picking up the cloak he swept past Aurora and out of the tower. If anyone had told him how much he resembled Professor Snape in that moment, Harry would have been horribly shocked.

Ally smirked, "Well have fun, try not to make your mother a grandmother quite yet; she won't forgive you for it. Have fun, guys."

Giving Charlie one last glance Ally slipped out of the tower, winking at them as she vanished into the night.

"She's really something isn't she," Charlie commented.

"Yet we love her," Aurora's comment was wry.

"Though Merlin knows why," Charlie responded, but before he could say anything else, the Astronomy Professor's lips were on top of his.

That night Tower was going to see another couple enjoy the stars and this time it wasn't as innocent as the last pair.

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><p><strong>REVIEW GUYS! IT'LL BE A GREAT CHRISTMAS PRESSIE!<strong>


	19. Year 1- No rest for the wicked

**Disclaimer: I still don't own anything except for my OCs and Original plotlines- it would make my day if I did own HP!**

**A/N: Hey guys, this is my newest chapter, but from chapter 16 on there have been changes due to my friend uploading the wrong chapters. The chapters are now in the right order.**

**So firstly, some apologies are due, I am sorry for how long it has taken me to update. Life after Christmas has been brutal, but I'm back now.**

**So onto reviewers:**

**NicoleR85- thank you, I did have a very nice and relaxing Christmas. I am sorry that the update wasn't soon, but hopefully these three chapters will make up for it. I hope that this chapter is enjoyable for you.**

**Iveya Jade's psycho mind 08: I'm glad that you enjoyed it and found it adorable. Not really what I was going for, but then again, if you like it, then I'm doing well. I mainly received books for gifts over Christmas.**

**Grace Furey: I am glad that my updates make your day. I hope that these recent updates tide you over for a little while. **

**mwinter1: well, the wait's over, enjoy!**

**Draconos- Okay, I am grateful for your long review, it did make my day. So, yes, at the moment there seems to be strains in relations, but that is because Ally isn't perfect and problems do occur in everyday life. Don't worry, Ally does have flaws, minor perhaps, but they are problematic and they do crop up every now and then. As for pranks they will be there, but perhaps not very often, after all Ally is a very busy girl. As for the Weasley twins, well there will be more of them as the chapters go on. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**Blue Luver5000- I'm glad that you loved it, hopefully you keep on loving it.**

**god of all- well I am continuing albeit at a slower pace. So hopefully you enjoy this one.**

**Penny is wise- I'm glad that you enjoyed it. Hopefully this chapter does not disappoint.**

**laissankari- here's the update.**

**faye- well your wish is my command. More chapters!**

**PensiveProsperity- okay, yes, I understand the Mary-Sue like vibe and I suppose she is, but her flaws are going to be coming out. She has serious issues with her family and personal life which will lead to some interesting character flaws as she grows up. More of her back story will come out.**

**abby1006- I fully take on board your comments and am working on the flawed aspects of Ally. She is powerful but she is designed to be that way, she essentially grew up amongst the Black family craziness which meant that she had to raise herself, it means that she is more powerful and more clued-up than most 11 year olds. She is far from naïve.**

**Well that was all of the reviewers from last time. Please keep reading and reviewing it really takes me out of my essay-induced comas. **

**Please vote on my poll as well.**

**Mischief Managed**

**Ally xx**

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><p><strong>Chapter 18- No rest for the wicked:<strong>

The next few weeks passed in a flurry of activity aside from Ron Weasley blabbing about the Dragon to Professor McGonagall, the woman had not believed him but after Lavender Brown's well-meaning input, all four were given a detention. Weasley had spent the next two days mumbling about how unfair it was, Ally had been indifferent, Harry had just ignored the horrible looks and Lavender had retreated back into her shell. Ally privately thought that Harry may have done the same as Lavender if it had not been for their group of friends.

McGonagall had deemed it necessary to allow the children in her house, the house of the brave to serve their detention with Hagrid. This perhaps was not the wisest of ideas, but it was an idea. One that Severus Snape would later snarl was "just like a Gryffindor to come up with an asinine idea" as the one to send a group of First Years into the Forbidden Forest. It was Forbidden for a reason.

Ally privately deemed Lavender shrewd (something that was ridiculous to contemplate) when the girl paled considerably after hearing where their detention was to be served. Harry had looked worried, Ron had huffed and puffed (sometimes the redhead did remind her of her cousin, Draco when he did not get his way), Ally had looked unconcerned.

However, later on when Ally had come face to face with the Weasley twins, Blaise and Daphne, the truth had come out.

"You look worried," a voice came from behind Ally; the redhead had been lounging on one of the old oak's boughs which overlooked the lake, deep in contemplation. The willow tree which the girl often lounged against was empty but Ally had chosen the strength of the oak, to the comparative fragility of the willow.

Blaise, for that was who had spoken waited until the girl he thought of as a sister landed on both feet and dusted herself off. Ally said nothing but motioned the foursome to move with her as she sat next to the lake, dipping her feet into its black depths.

"I am worried," Ally finally spoke, she knew that there was no doubt in Blaise's mind that she was worried and she was.

"I heard about the detention," Daphne interceded gently; she wrapped an arm around her distant cousin.

"Yeah-"

"We've had plenty-"

"Of detentions-"

"Ally-cat," completed George, smirking very slightly in accomplishment when the glimmer of a smile took its place on Ally's aristocratic features at their twin speech.

"It's not the detention as such," Ally clarified, looking at Blaise, knowing that he would have the best chance to read her.

Blaise looked at her, "Ally, I love you, a lot. But the only two people I have ever seen being able to read you through your mask with any luck are Arcturus and Jenna- unfortunately neither are among us anymore. You'll have to tell us, that is of course if you want to."

Ally smiled, "Well, that's a surprise that you are actually willing to admit that you may be not so good at something. You've trained him well, Daph, he's a keeper."

The two girls shared a look, one of humour, while the three boys looked put out. Although, Blaise's was covering his worry at the evasive quality of what Ally was now doing.

"In all seriousness, Ally, what's up," Fred looked worried, of the two twins he was the one that was less serious but he could see that something was bothering the girl he considered his little sister, more than his own when it came down to it.

"The detention is with Hagrid," Ally spoke up, but before she could clarify George interrupted her.

"Well, that's good isn't it, he will make sure you don't do anything too ghastly for detention," his voice was filled with relief, even as he asked the question.

Blaise and Daphne, both of whom had inherited Slytherin cunning looked at one another, they knew that Ally would not react the way that she had without a good reason. This made them worry more than the twins.

Daphne was the one to voice their opinion, with Blaise nodding along in agreement, "Something tells me that Hagrid's detention is not going to be as pleasant as the Weasley duo seem to think."

Ally smirked, it was half-hearted but it was there, "The Forbidden Forest, at least that's what my instincts are telling me." Ally did not mention that Professor McGonagall had already confirmed her theory.

Blaise looked horrified, "They can't be serious," his eyes betrayed the worry that he was attempting to hide from the young Gryffindor girl.

Daphne looked grim, "My mother was right, this school is going down the drain, back in her day this sort of thing would have never been allowed."

Ally allowed herself a small smile, "Don't let your mother hear you say "back in her day", she's not that old. You also have to remember, Daph that she grew up in the war, we are technically in a peacetime."

"Yes, but it still doesn't-"

"Make it right," completed Fred.

Ally shrugged, "I'm hoping for the best," then she spoiled her uncharacteristic optimism with the cynic inside, "but something tells me that my hope is going to be wasted." Ally could not help the cynicism, she was damaged. She had been for a very long time, no matter how well she hid the damage.

They lapsed into a silence before Daphne broke it by looking at Ally, "Did you hear about Aunt Letty?"

"No," Ally responded tentatively, Aunt Letty was a distant relative of the two, one that neither liked but put up with like proper Purebloods. She was admittedly curious; Daphne was not the gossiper amongst her three cousins, so this was bound to be good.

"She died," Daphne stated callously, causing Ally to hit her lightly in admonishment although the fact that her hair did not darken to mourning colours betrayed her amusement, "and she left me a quarter of her wealth, same as you, Megan and Tracey. Something about us being the future."

The two dissolved into giggles, leaving the three boys at a complete loss.

Although she giggled, Ally was much more worried than she let on. From what she could remember of Aunt Letty, the woman was a Pureblood fanatic, so for her to leave money to Ally was unprecedented, but she was also certain that the woman was not shrewd enough to have an ulterior motive.

The detention was much to Harry's worry, Lavender's fear and Ron's horror in the Forbidden Forest; they had been hoping rather naively that McGonagall had been joking. Ally merely looked grim when they were picked up by the miserable caretaker Argus Filch and his cat, Mrs Norris. The youngest of the four had had no illusions as to the truth in their Head of House's voice when she had delivered them the message.

"Don't think you'll be getting off easy mind," Filch's breath was putrid as he leaned menacingly over the four, Lavender whimpered, "Hagrid'll put you all through your paces."

Ally would normally have left well enough alone but seeing Lavender's anxious face caused her to snap at the aged caretaker, "Well, Filch, I think that we are capable of finding Hagrid's hut ourselves, so unless you want Mrs Norris to turn up in a suit of armour somewhere, because I tell the Weasley twins that Peeves can have an open season on cats, I suggest you go. Oh, I am being deadly serious, don't test me."

The threat apparently worked because Filch gave the four one last sneer before hobbling off with the gas lamp, leaving the students in the dark. It was well-known that the Weasley twins were good friends of Ally's, and Filch knew all too well the havoc that they and the poltergeist could cause. He did not want to test the red-headed first year.

Harry was wondering what had been left unsaid because it was obvious that the aged caretaker had understood something else that the students hadn't. When he later broached this topic with both Ally and Aurora he found that both evaded it, although the former had more success than the latter. Harry had a feeling that he had just stumbled upon the taboo topic of Ally's father, so he left it alone.

"Lumos," Harry muttered, as Ally was glaring at Ron who had just pulled her hair, which was currently long and blonde and Lavender was shivering from fright.

"Hagrid," Ron greeted the big man as they spotted him by the outside edge of the forest.

"'Ello, you four," Hagrid greeted, "where's Filch?"

Harry responded, "He seemed to think it wise to leave us," he gave a pointed look to Ally who did not even blink.

"Ah," Hagrid muttered after seeing the look Harry was giving the young, normally redheaded girl. Hagrid had learnt that with Ally it was often best not to ask, because one could never anticipate what kind of response they would get.

Once in the forest Hagrid explained that they were on the trail of a bleeding unicorn, but for it to be effective to find the injured animal they would have to split up.

"I don't want to split up," Lavender clutched at Ally's robes, frightened.

"Ron, you an' Laven'er will go together," Hagrid stated, ignoring the blonde who was clutching ever tighter to Ally.

"Fine," Ron spat, leering slightly at the pretty girl, except it did nothing but creep them out, he was too young for the look to be effective. "But we get Fang," he bargained looking at the boarhound's sharp teeth.

"All ri' but I'm warnin' ya, he's a cowar'," Hagrid told the Weasley, "ye, two are wi' me," he told the two best friends who merely nodded.

Lavender and Ron hesitantly set off in the opposite direction to the way Ally and the two others were going. Ally had a feeling that this was not going to go well with the groupings, by the way that Harry kept glancing back in the direction of the other two, and she got the distinct feeling that he was thinking the same thing.

"Wha's eatin' at ye," Hagrid finally asked as the three made their way deeper into the forest.

Ally shrugged, "Nothing much," she responded nonchalantly, Hagrid being as unassuming as he was simply believed her. Ally was relieved that he did not press the matter too much.

Harry gave her a look, but didn't say anything. Ally rolled her eyes before giving a well-faked shudder for the benefit of Hagrid, under this guise she managed to move closer to her friend and slip her hand into his- in silent comfort. Although who was comforting who seemed to be lost to both, for now it was an act of friendship, one that would last forever.

They met Bane and Ronan both of whom were centaurs and seemed to relish in telling them the news that "Mar's is bright tonight."

Hagrid seemed annoyed and the significance of the planet was lost on Harry. But Ally was not oblivious she knew what the centaurs meant and it worried her. She filed the information away for a later date.

"Hagrid, are those red sparks," the slight tremor in Harry's voice and his suddenly vice-like grip on Ally's hand caused her to meet his worried emerald eyes.

"Ye two stay ri' here, I'll go check on 'em," Hagrid told us before rushing off to find Ron and Lavender.

Ally raised her wand and pointed it in front of her. Harry stood back to back with her doing the same with his wand.

"They'll be okay," Ally's voice had only the barest hint of a tremor but it was there and for the first time Harry saw the 11 year old girl rather than the jaded older sounding one. Ally was not perfect, deep down Harry knew that, but this was the first time he had really seen her, the 11 year-old girl that hid behind her intelligence and power so that no one saw how scared and broken she was on the inside.

"They'll be okay," he repeated.

Ally nodded, not noticing how her hair changed colour back to red and then to black, the same shade as Harry's.

Hagrid appeared quite suddenly and Ally had to stop her body-bind spell from hitting him as she quickly pointed her wand harmlessly at a tree.

"This idiot decided it woul' be a go' idea to sneak up on Laven'er and go boo," Hagrid explained shaking Ron slightly to emphasise the problem.

Ally glared at the redhead who cringed back in fear. He had never seen Ally's temper but the twins had warned him earlier in the year not to get on her bad side, he was honestly terrified of her. The twins did not make threats lightly, if Ally was someone they were wary of; then he was honestly worried as to what the girl's capabilities were.

Hagrid looked apologetically at the other two Gryffindors, Lavender was clinging to him quite tightly and he had a good grip on Ron, "Do ye two min' if ye go wi' Fang to try an' fin' the poor unicorn?"

Harry shook his head immediately, "Of course we don't mind Hagrid."

Ally simply nodded, not fully trusting her Occlumency shields to be able to keep all her angry emotions at bay if she spoke. So she simply pulled Fang towards her and started going one way and Harry followed her.

"Are you okay," Harry asked as he caught up with the other Gryffindor.

At first it did not seem like Ally was going to answer him and then she did, "No. Once upon a time I was a lot like Lavender; I was trusting to a fault. Then things happened and in one swoop I lost all of my innocence, I can't let Weasley do that to her. She's so innocent Harry. I'm not. And because of that no one likes me, like honestly likes me."

Ally suddenly placed her hand over her mouth; she had revealed more than she had wanted to. She had a feeling it was from the stress of the Forest, but deep down she also knew that she was close to breaking with keeping up the façade of being alright all of the time, because she was so far from it that it was unbelievable.

Harry said nothing; instead he closed the gap between them and gently kissed her on the cheek, but not anticipating that sort of an action, Ally had turned at the last moment and the kiss had landed on her lips. It was the innocent kiss of two young friends but both felt sparks fly even as they separated.

"I like you. And maybe it's because you aren't innocent. Neville and Susan they are. Blaise and Daphne less so. But you and I, we are more similar than most would think. Because I'm not innocent either. So maybe we can work this out together," Harry finished hopefully and was rewarded by Ally nodding and initiating a hug.

Ally smiled but suddenly it fell as her she saw the silvery trail of unicorn blood and about six feet away was the dying unicorn.

"Ally," Harry asked, worried.

"I think that we've found what's been attacking the unicorns," Ally hissed, then pulled Harry instinctively behind her own body, shielding him. The action mirrored the one that Lily Potter had done the night of her murder; Ally hoped that this time it had a better outcome than what had happened the last time. But she did not have too much time to try and ponder that, no matter how good she was, she knew that she was not good enough to kill an fully grown wizard, perhaps maim, but that may not be enough, but she swallowed her fear and held her wand slightly aloft.

The hooded figure locked eyes with her and she felt probes on her Occlumency shields and then felt them slam up as quickly as they could. The figure then turned its attention to Harry and the young Gryffindor male fell, clutching at his scar.

Ally swelled with wordless rage, choosing to jab her wand in silent fury in the figure's direction, the robes that he was wearing caught on fire and he lost his concentration. Before Ally could do anything more, a palomino centaur cantered into the clearing, the hooded figure retreated seeing that he was outnumbered.

"Fuck," Ally muttered under her breath as she quickly checked Harry's breathing which was erratic but not laboured.

After what seemed an age, emerald met emerald once more.

"Thank Merlin," Ally breathed, before pulling Harry upright and supporting his weight.

"You are the Black girl," the centaur spoke, "I am Firenze." There was no inflection in his voice, he was stating facts and nothing more.

Even in her worried state Ally formulated her response, "Good evening Firenze, Messenger of the Fates. You are looking worried tonight," her voice betrayed nothing.

"Mars is bright tonight," he told her mournfully before bending down and allowing Ally to put Harry on his back.

"Indeed and getting ever brighter," Ally seemed to understand even if Harry looked completely blank.

"What was that thing," Harry asked.

Firenze looked directly at Harry, "Do you know what is currently hidden in the castle, Mr Potter?"

"The Philosopher's Stone," Harry looked confusedly at Ally but the other was looking worriedly at the night sky.

"Do you know what unicorn blood is used for, Mr Potter," Firenze asked. This time the silence was uncomfortable, but Harry could not pin-point exactly why that was.

Harry looked confused. Ally shot him a look and he began to formulate his response.

"No, we've only ever used the horn or tail-hairs in Potions, never the blood," Harry told him, wondering where this was going.

Ally sighed, "Because it's a heinous and unforgiveable crime to kill a unicorn, to spill its blood. Only the most desperate ever do, for to drink unicorn blood for long periods of time helps one attain immortality."

"Then why is it a heinous crime, aside from the obvious," Harry asked.

This time it was Firenze who answered, "It's a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn because of its pure nature. Those who drink the blood without it being freely given only achieve half a life. Doomed, one might say."

"So why would anyone want to drink that then, that is if it was not freely given in the first place," Harry asked naively.

Ally groaned inwardly, ultimately she was used to dealing with Daphne and Blaise who were quicker on the uptake but this was just ridiculous. "Think about it, Harry," then to make herself even clearer she reached out and flicked Harry's scar with her left forefinger.

"Voldemort," Harry's breath hitched slightly.

"Yes," Ally told him, smiling sympathetically at her now pale as a sheet best-friend, "he has nothing to lose, half a life is better than no life at all."

"Can you ride, younglings," Firenze asked.

Ally raised an eyebrow at the Palomino centaur, "Of course, however, perhaps Harry should ride you, if you are of course offering?"

Firenze smiled, "You need not worry, young one, the Fates are after all at your command," here he turned to face Harry who was still panicking too much to notice their conversation.

"What of the unicorn," Ally asked, at Firenze's nod she stepped up and gently placed her hand on the gaping wound, it closed under her ministrations but she knew that nothing could turn back the hands of Father Time. The unicorn was dead but at least she was at peace, although the same could not be said for Ally.

Harry moaned so Ally stepped forward and easily helped Harry onto Firenze's back, and then they all set off, Firenze cantering, Harry gripping and Ally simply keeping up with them in a brisk walk.

They entered a clearing.

Ally grimaced, "Hello again, Bane, Ronan."

Her greetings fell on deaf ears for the two other centaurs were glaring heavily at Firenze.

"Have you no shame, Firenze," thundered Bane, "you have a human on your back."

Ally rolled her eyes, "Bane, perhaps you would do well to read what the stars foretell more carefully for surely a better fate is planned for this particular foal?"

Firenze snorted, huffing, "He is but a foal, the Potter boy may help Mars and she may help Venus emerge to overtake Mars."

Bane glowered, "Rest assured that this slight will not be forgotten."

Ally glared at the centaur, Harry was now almost unconscious from the fear and adrenaline wearing off, "Perhaps, you should think very carefully of my position before you threaten me and my friends?"

Ronan pawed the ground anxiously, "Mayhap, you should not underestimate the herald of Fates, Bane?"

Bane glared once more before blending back into the black shadows of the night, Ronan following. This left Firenze and Ally with a catatonic heir Potter.

"Harry, Ally, ye're alrig'?"

Hagrid came panting along followed by Fang, Weasley and Lavender.

Harry managed a grimace, "Just peachy, Hagrid."

Ally stifled a laugh, it seemed that her sarcasm was rubbing off on her friend, "We're okay, the unicorn isn't though; she's dead." Then turning to Firenze she spoke once more, "I trust that you and your fellows will do right by her herd, Firenze."

"Of course," Firenze inclined his head, shocking Hagrid, for centaurs rarely showed any respect to humans, not even to Professor Dumbledore, "the stars have been read wrongly by centaurs before, Alexandra Black, I hope that this is one of them. If not, I pray that innocents are spared."

As Firenze cantered off Ally muttered, "Innocents are always the first to go; such is the way of the world."

As they returned back to the castle Ally found herself wishing that they had more time, she feared that when the time came allies would be needed. But along the way she was sure to lose some too, and that's what worried her the most.

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><p><span><strong>Review, pwease!<strong>


	20. Chapter 20- Planning? What Planning?

**Disclaimer: I am just playing in the talented world of Jo Rowling. I do not own any of the characters apart from my OCs' and the storyline. **

**A/N: HEY GUYS, THIS IS A CHAPTER TO BRING IN THE NEW YEAR. **

**Recently my updates have been woefully absent and for that I am sorry, but my inspiration was just not there. I have to admit that I have gotten some pretty horrific PMs and they have been personal attacks. Whilst I appreciate that you may not like the story or some aspects of it, please don't attack me personally. Thanks. **

**Moving on, this story IS NOT ABADONED. However, updates will be slow. I did write this story when I was about 10, so yes, some things seem improbable, but if you have continued to read this far, please don't give up yet. This story will cover only the First Year at Hogwarts so is winding down.**

**Now onto the reviewers... I love you and here are my responses to what you so kindly contributed (please continue to do so)**

**Traveler301- I am glad that you liked this story and hope you keep on reading.**

**Chise Sakamoto- I am thrilled you enjoyed this, hopefully this chapter keeps you interested. **

**fallondyson- I know this is late, but here is the update. Keep reading and reviewing **

**T.K. angel- Hey I was thrilled by your feedback, I understand and fully appreciate your concerns about Ally. However, the story does get a bit more realistic as time goes on, I did write this as a small child also please be aware that it is fanfiction so I did take liberties with this. For me the fact that you cared enough to give such an indepth analysis makes me very happy, it certainly shows that as an author I may have some potential. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

**pennyiswise- thanks for the review once again.**

**So now, on with the story... **

**Chapter 19- Planning? What Planning?**

Headmaster Dumbledore was a wise wizard, but he often seemed to forget that he was human. He regarded himself as infallible, something that was someday going to cost him greatly- but for now he remained complacent. As he stared from where he was disillusioned in the library at a specific set of First Years, he found himself wondering how it was that a mere First Year had managed a spell that would bar all members of staff from ever revealing her bloodline and purity until she wished, he speculated that she had had help, but he couldn't imagine from whom. It never occurred to him that the Black family was more into the Dark Arts and knew more of it than he ever would.

For that was exactly what Ally Black had done! She had somehow made it impossible for any to breathe about her parentage, and it seemed to be a mass spell, affecting others outside of Hogwarts' walls. This was done without his consent! It should not be allowed, yet he could not prove anything. It made him furious, what was worse was that no one seemed to care apart from him! It had never occurred to him that this was because it wasn't any of his business.

Meanwhile, Ally was studying, or at least attempting to.

"Ally, I don't understand this," Neville whined, pushing a half completed Potions essay in front of her.

"Okay… what do you want me to do about it," Ally asked, knowing full well what he wanted. However, she was not going to make it easy on him, it exasperated her as to how lazy Neville and Susan actually were, they just seemed to think that asking her for help was the correct solution to all of their issues, it was a solution but not the right one. She knew that she was intelligent and powerful, too powerful and smart for her age, she blamed the Dark magic running through her veins for that, but it was a blessing in some respects.

"Help me," Neville half-snarled.

Exam season had hit Hogwarts and now there was a frenzy of last minute revision. Unfortunately for Ally she already knew all this stuff due to her photographic memory meaning that other's still asked her for help. It still annoyed her that the one thing she could not remember was who her birth mother was, it seemed to be an adverse effect of the Dark magic.

It had soon become obvious to Ally what the group dynamic was and it worried her, as she floated off to the talking section of the library only one person noticed and followed her, Blaise. Ally grimaced, over the past few months she could feel a schism erupting between Neville, Susan and her, they had been good friends before but close proximity was straining the bonds. Close to breaking them, the bonds were becoming harder to maintain.

"Hey," Blaise muttered as he sank down on the ground next to the young woman he considered a sister. To his shock Ally moved closer to him, settling into his side and allowing his right arm to drape around her shoulders. Ally wasn't much for physical contact so this rare show of affection was endearing.

"Hi. How's your mum," Ally asked, she had not heard from Emerald in a while, so was intrigued to know how she was. She didn't notice the raspy quality of her voice but Blaise did, but he wisely chose not to comment on it.

"Busy, she misses me, apparently."

Ally managed a weak smile at the sardonic comment, her voice quivered slightly as she spoke, "I'm sure she misses you, Blaise, most mothers' do."

"Are you okay," Blaise asked, noting the quiver. But Blaise Zabini had known Ally Black for far too many years and knew her too well to not call her out on the quiver that he had heard.

Ally shrugged, "I think I'm seeing everything slightly more clearly now, something that I often forget when trying to help the bigger picture. I think this is something that you and Daphne have already seen," the use of the longer form of Daphne's name and its relevance was not lost on Blaise.

"What did you work out?" The enquiry sounded innocent enough, but Blaise's eyes revealed his curiosity.

"They are not cut out for it," Ally gestured towards Neville and Susan, "the fact that they hang around is some credit but they do not truly believe in what needs to be done and will balk at it."

Blaise nodded, "Then maybe we carry on being their friends but doing what is necessary?"

Ally smiled, she understood what Blaise was saying rather cryptically. Essentially he was telling her to keep her friends but to rely on himself and Daphne for the really strenuous things, because it was the only way things were going to get done at any reasonable speed.

"I think that may be for the best."

In later years Daphne Greengrass would often wonder how it was that she and her friends had managed to pass their exams that year. From Neville's moaning over how hard everything was, to Susan demanding help, it was a wonder that they had ever managed it. It was even more of a wonder how the hell Ally Black had managed to keep what remained of her sanity in those weeks, a feat which garnered her great admiration from Daphne.

Harry's scar was hurting. Tracey was even surlier than usual because of her worry. Megan- more timid. Blaise and Ally were the only ones apart from herself not about to have a breakdown, which was perhaps why they all managed to pass somehow.

The written exams were easier than the practical for some, but for the majority of their group they had managed the practical better on the whole.

Snape's Potions' exam had featured the Forgetfulness Potion. This was rather unfair, in Daphne's opinion given the fact that the fumes from it would cause the potioneer to forget some of the instructions if not all, but it was a good test of skill and natural ability- but it really did not favour Neville.

Daphne who was waiting on Ally to finish her Transfiguration exam was thrilled to see McGonagall glare at her friend when she managed to transform her mouse into a snuffbox with one fluid swish of her wand. The fact that the design was not grey like the mouse and completely transfigured into a beautiful bejewelled snuffbox seemed to be too much for the Head of Gryffindor who merely sniffed before dismissing Ally, something which the younger witch had pointedly ignored.

Flitwick's exam was probably the least nerve-wracking practical; they had to make a pineapple tap dance across the desk. Daphne smirked as hers executed the perfect dance, but grimaced when Susan's pineapple didn't move at all and then burst into flame whilst Neville's executed summersaults instead of tap-dancing, but she supposed it had at least moved.

Astronomy was a lunar chart that had Megan in tears and Tracey begging for Draco's blood when he accidentally on purpose upset his inkwell on her chart. Thankfully before Tracey could be locked away for murder Professor Sinistra vanished all the ink from Tracey's work. Ally and Harry had done surprisingly well, or so Daphne thought.

The last exam was the written History of Magic paper. Daphne had found this particularly difficult even though she had studied with both Blaise and Ally to whom this was quite easy. Ally may not have gone to any of the lessons but she still learnt the stuff that she needed to know, not that Ally particularly cared for her grades in general, but she was at school so she might as well try.

Daphne sighed as she put down her quill for the last time and headed out into the sunlight for the last time after her exams, where she was quickly joined by all her friends.

"That was brutal," moaned Susan as she lay under the shade of the willow tree.

Daphne snorted delicately, "Are you kidding, Bones, we have spent the last few days grilling you on this stuff, how could you still have found it that difficult?"

Neville immediately jumped to his crush's defence, "She isn't the only one who found it hard, Daphne. I did too."

"Guys, can we please not start an argument," Megan begged, she really didn't want her cousin to get into a fight at this point in time, they were meant to be relaxing. Exams were over, they needed the time to wind down, not erupt in flames.

"I agree with Megs on this one," Tracey commented lazily from where she was laying on her back gazing up into the brilliant blue sky.

"I don't want a fight," Daphne responded to her cousins, "I'm just saying that Bones should not have really found it that hard."

Sensing the danger in the topic, Blaise quickly changed it, "Did you hear Granger's moaning?"

"The better question is who didn't," Ally smirked at the boy she considered an older brother.

"True enough," Blaise replied.

"Can you two please stop that and actually tell us," Harry asked, the heat was nice but he was getting fed up of them being so cryptic.

"She asked me two weeks ago if I thought that the 1637 Werewolf Code would come up, and I told her that it wouldn't."

"So of course she thinks that Ally's lying and revises it anyway and then comes up to her to tell her that she hates her for being right," Blaise finished off, laughing slightly.

"Well, you can't exactly blame Hermione," Susan told them, "After all Ally isn't exactly nice to anyone."

Neville nodded in agreement, it was seldom that he and Susan disagreed.

Harry was the only one to notice how much Ally's face had fallen at Susan's words and Neville's actions. They were rather callous, and it worried him.

"Guys, Ally does care about people, that much is obvious and she can be nice, and it's not like Granger tried to get along with her," Harry defended.

Blaise quickly jumped in, "You are naïve, Susan. You see everything in black and white."

Daphne re-joined with her comment, "I agree. You need to recognise the shades of grey, because that's the best way to do these things."

Tracey snickered, "I may not always agree with you dearest cousin, but on this I do. Neville, Susan you really need to see what lies beneath the exterior."

Even softly spoken Megan had to agree with her cousins, "You two supposedly know Ally the best, yet you seem to comprehend her least of us all."

Neville scowled and stood up, "You know what? You are all blinded by your loyalty to _her_, maybe Grandmother was right and she is just raising us like lambs to a slaughter. It's evident that your lack of a sane family has messed you up."

Susan stood too, "I think that you are misguided Ally, but to each to their own, but we cannot help you, not now anyway maybe if you change your ways we may be able to someday. It is against the Bones code to go the way you are."

Ally said nothing she just smiled sadly, "Maybe. But I fear that by then it will be too late. Now go, we don't want you to become like me now, do we?" She wisely did not mention Amelia Bones, the woman who had done many similar things to Ally herself, and was Susan's aunt.

Susan and Neville didn't say anything; instead they flounced off towards the castle, leaving an uncomfortable silence around them.

Blaise broke it, "So, did you think that something like that may occur," he asked shrewdly.

"It was an eventuality that did occur to me. Neville and Susan have had loving upbringings for the most part, they do not truly understand what I have been through, and nor do they wish to know," Ally told him smiling slightly. Her heart was breaking, but she knew better than to show it, for her enemies would use any weakness against her and she could not allow that.

"You know, you would make a good Slytherin," a voice came from behind them, Ally smirked as she took in the form of Theodore Nott.

"Why, I do believe that you just paid me a compliment, Theo, I must be delusional," Ally smiled at the Slytherin boy.

Nott scoffed, "Yes, delirium must be the answer," he suggested wryly.

Ally threw back her head in laughter, "Gosh, I've missed you, Theo. How's your mother," she asked.

"Well, you know mother, she's worried. But I suppose that that's a mother's prerogative," he raised an eyebrow in question.

Ally easily answered, "Perhaps, but I'm not the best judge of such things, after all I do not really know my mother."

Much to their shock Nott actually smiled, "Maybe that's for the best, for it does not seem to have done you much harm, if any at all."

"Charmer," Tracey muttered looking at Theo with an appraising eye.

Ally sighed, ignoring Tracey and Theo in favour of looking at Harry, "I'm sorry, I know that they were your first friends," her voice betrayed nothing but Harry could see some pain lingering in her eyes as she spoke.

Harry looked shocked, but the others looked resigned, they had a feeling that Ally was going to start blaming herself.

Harry moved towards Ally and pulled her into his chest where quite uncharacteristically and suddenly she began sobbing, they were quiet at first before becoming more prominent. Harry had never really dealt with crying females but for some reason he did not feel awkward as he took out his monogrammed handkerchief and used it to wipe away her tears.

"It's okay, we can still be friends, just not as close," he comforted the normally red haired girl, Ally was currently sporting a curly black hairdo, "Besides, _they_ weren't my first friends. You were."

Ally's head shot up, emerald met grey. Ally had never really been put first by anyone ever before, what she had failed to realise, for she was only just 11 was that Harry felt the same way. The two were selfless when it came to the other, so they would always help each other before themselves which is what they were both doing.

Theo leaned over to whisper to Daphne, "Ten galleons say those two will get together in our fifth year."

Daphne nodded her acceptance of the bet.

Tracey scoffed, "You have to be kidding Nott, and there is no way that even the two of them are that clueless. Daph put ten galleons on Susan and Neville for middle of fourth year, for me, thanks."

Blaise snickered, talking of clueless; Tracey did not seem to notice her own flirting with Theo Nott. As they were all purebloods they tended to circulate in the same social circles, even Ally turned up to most of them, not that anyone really cared if she did or did not. Tracey and Theo had never gotten along and Blaise was sure that a few years down the line Tracey Davis was going to become Tracey Nott. That much he could tell.

Meanwhile, Ally's brief outburst of tears had been quelled and she was now leaning over a book that Harry was looking at on curses and jinxes.

"Hey Ally-Cat," a voice came from behind them, they all jumped shocked. Well, barring Ally, who merely turned around and greeted the speaker and his twin.

"Hello, Forge. Good to see you too, Gred. So what can I help you fine gentlemen with today," her hair was back to red but her eyes were still grey.

Fred looked carefully at the young Black, her eyes were slightly red-rimmed but he ignored it, knowing that Ally didn't like a fuss, "Dumbledore's gone."

Ally nodded, "Thanks, for letting me know guys. This is going to be so much fun, talk about great timing."

Harry looked interested, "Any ideas where he's gone, George," he addressed the other twin.

"The Ministry according to Ol' McGonagall," Fred was the one who replied.

"Speaking of, what happened between you guys and Neville and Susan, they were storming off to the castle in a rather big huff," George asked.

Megan rolled her eyes, "They are spoilt brats, honestly. You'd think that the world revolves around them."

"Don't stress, Megs, it could have been a lot worse," Ally smiled at the older girl.

"You're stressing," Daphne pointed out. She had to admit that Ally Black stressing out was not a good thing ever, but it had to be said.

Ally nodded, "Yeah, I could do with a Firewhiskey, if I'm being honest."

Blaise snickered, "Don't let my mum hear you say that."

Ally rolled her eyes, "Your mother does not scare me, Blaise. However, as it is, I have no imminent death wish."

"Guys," Harry's voice cut into the good-natured banter of the two, he looked as white as a sheet, "What are the chances that Hagrid goes down to the pub and meets someone with a Dragon's Egg in their pocket?"

Ally sighed, "Not very likely, I see you have come to the same conclusion as I have. The only reason that they would is because they want information on the traps and how to get past the Cerberus."

"His name's Fluffy," Tracey put in, "What? I listen; I'd have made a good Slytherin."

Nott smirked, "Oh, honey, you'd never have survived."

Ally quickly intervened seeing Tracey's livid expression, "Harry, that was a great conclusion to make, are you sure you're not a closet Ravenclaw?"

Harry blushed, but quickly recovered, something that he would not have been able to do back in August when they first met. "So, what's the plan," he looked directly at Ally when he asked this.

Ally blushed slightly, "What makes you think I have one?"

Fred scoffed, "You always have a plan."

"Yeah, you got Bill and Charlie out of the country and away from mum when they wanted to get away. That's pretty damn impressive planning, given the fact that if given the chance my mother would mother the world and her son," George praised. He knew that Ally had a lot of resources in her arsenal, as much as the elder Weasleys' did not like to think on it, Ally had had no childhood and was a master planner for that reason.

Ally smiled slightly, "Well, my planning wasn't everything, they had to do it mostly themselves."

"I highly doubt that you had little to do with it," Daphne told her sardonically.

"Anyway," Megan said pointedly trying to get them to move onto the actual plan.

"Right, the plan," Ally shook her head as if to clear foggy thoughts.

The others all sat up, Theo stopped glaring at Tracey who was smiling triumphantly. Daphne stopped fiddling with the end of her blonde ponytail. Megan finished up the chapter of the book she was reading. Harry sat forward and put his book away. Fred and George grinned manically and Blaise smirked.

"Here's what we're going to do…"

No one had ever called Percy Weasley dumb; in fact he was reasonably clever as were four of his five brothers. He knew that Bill and Charlie had had outside help in getting away from their mother, he wanted this help too, but he had no idea as to how to do it.

That is until he got a message earlier that day, he had just been stressing about what his OWL results were going to be like when a black owl had landed in front of him holding a message.

_Percy,_

_I can help you with all your ambitions, just like your brothers got the help before, so will you._

_I have some useful information for you, meet me in the Gryffindor Common Room at 12 a.m./midnight. Come alone._

_A Friend_

This was how Percy found himself lying in wait for this 'friend'.

Fred and George Weasley were intrigued as to exactly what Ally thought Percy could offer them, but when she asked them to do something they did it without question. This was the only advice that both Bill and Charlie had imparted.

"Why do you think Ally is willing to help Percy, brother dear?"

George looked at his twin in speculation before responding, "As much as we give Percy hell, he is an authority figure and a shoe-in for Head Boy. We need that kind of help."

"That girl would have made a good Slytherin. What I don't understand is why we have to deal with the Perfect Prick?"

George rolled his eyes, Fred never really did think before he spoke, "Because, we are the only two in Gryffindor, who can do this, given Ally's nature. I'm sure the others have jobs too."

Daphne Greengrass sighed as she cast intricate charms on the doorway to the Third Floor Corridor. She had been taught these spells years ago, but she had thought that she would never need them, but she was thankful for the paranoia that had led to her honing of such talents. Susan and Neville had only had basic Unspeakable training and she was beginning to see the merits of it, however, Emerald had trained her and Blaise with more than that.

So this was why she found herself crouched out as the guard of the floor where no student was supposed to go. Daphne was not a rule abider by any sense of the notion, that was Megan, yet she never thought that she would be doing something like this.

She supposed that being friends with Ally Black was great but one did find themselves doing things that they had never expected. She just hoped that when the time came to do what they must, that they'd be fine.

If she was being honest, Tracey Davis was relieved that she did not have to do the major things in this mission. That honour went to Harry, Ally, Blaise and Daphne. Still she had to act upset, for that was what she was meant to do.

She had been given an important task (she conveniently forgot that all the roles were important), she was to be the watch person outside the third floor. She would arrive after the four who would actually go into the chamber and borrow the invisibility cloak to stand as a guard.

Tracey squared her shoulders, looking into the mirror. She fixed her tawny-blonde locks and slipped into the dark clothing that Daphne had supplied her. If she was quite honest Tracey did not want to know how her cousin had gotten these clothes, she just knew that she had to do this, it was for the best.

The clock chimed.

It was time…

Not for the first time Theodore Nott wondered what he had gotten himself into. Originally he was just going to be a mere ally to the Black heiress (this had been many years ago, back when Pollux and Walburga had been alive, the two first years had then been mere toddlers) but as time went on he found himself more and more intrigued by her. She was something of an enigma and so they became tentative friends.

And now he was helping her willingly. He would even say that they were firm friends.

He was the only Slytherin who was currently working with Ally and for that reason he was a formidable ally, but now he had a feeling that they would be more than that.

His task was simple, like Tracey he was a watcher, his job was to make sure that none of the Slytherins suspected anything and to make sure that they did not leave the Common Room that night.

As he watched Draco Malfoy moan about something again for the fifth time, Theo groaned inwardly. It was going to be a long night.

Blaise grimaced as he set to work. His job was to keep Peeves distracted; unfortunately this meant that he had to pull a few pranks. Nothing too dangerous, but danger was something that he thrived off of.

As the son of an Unspeakable and the "brother" of a girl who loved violence and had learned to thrive off of it, he was more than used to violence and danger.

But he had never been in the heart of it, for that he had always been a little upset. Ally had once told him that his innocence was best demonstrated when he showed his exuberance of going on missions. He was beginning to see why.

As he lit a Filibuster Firework that Ally had commandeered from the Weasley twins, Blaise could honestly say that his work was good.

There were Fireworks and Dungbombs arranged only as a Ravenclaw could plan it. And perhaps Ally. But that was neither here nor there. Every time Peeves or Filch tried to touch anything it would trigger another prank.

But Blaise could not really stop to admire his handiwork; it was time to go in through the trapdoor…

Megan Jones looked around the Hufflepuff Common Room; it was in the basement and decorated in the House colours. She knew why she had been given the job of look-out. Hufflepuffs were often underestimated, so she was given a monitoring device for the teacher's lounge, it would be her job to make sure that the teacher's did not stumble upon the mission. It was unlikely they would, but still.

Her job was important. Megan was loyal.

But her loyalty lay with her family and Ally Black. Ally who was her friend. Ally who was family.

So Megan Jones waited.

As she watched the dots slowly move into the adjoining staff quarters, she sighed. Her job was done, for the moment all was quiet.

"Good luck, guys," she whispered.

Harry Potter was excited.

He was after all a Gryffindor for a reason. Much of his reckless tendencies had been curbed by Ally's dubious influence but he was experiencing a rush by doing something so rebellious.

He was going to be at the centre of this plan. Ally had rather surprisingly let him into the main mission. He knew that he had the least training so it made him proud that he could join in the main festivities.

Grabbing his invisibility cloak, Harry snuck out of the dormitory, knowing that the plan was in motion and if all went well the Stone would be saved…

Ally was neither nervous nor excited. As she pulled on her clothing, she sighed, she felt that she was tearing the others' innocence from them by doing this, but she felt like she had no choice, they did. And they chose to help.

Ally looked at her reflection, she was wearing a tight, black t-shirt with full-length sleeves, and her hair was black and wavy, pulled back into a ponytail. She had on black leather trousers and black combat boots. She had her wand tucked away in a holster and a dagger tucked into her bra, but this she told herself was because they may need it.

She knew that she looked menacing, but unfortunately this was one of the bad things about her life, she was always paranoid, and often for good reason. Something that Amelia Bones often bemoaned, but even she could not deny the fact that her pseudo-niece often was right to be paranoid. Although this truth hadn't stopped Amelia from often comparing her to Mad-Eye Moody, something that Ally regarded as somewhat of a compliment.

As she snuck down the stairs she passed the Weasley twins and Percy who was looking shocked at the information they were giving him. The information was on Neville, Susan and Ron, who the twins thought may be thinking of sneaking out as a last hoorah. Percy bought it and promised to look out for them.

Ally caught Fred's and George's eyes and winked.

It was time.

**So that's the end of this chapter guys. Once again, happy new year. Please Read and Review it may make updates faster ;P. **


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